Well yesterday was another good day.  Breakfast was this:

50g oatbran made in the microwave with 125ml of milk, about 10g of protein powder added, a massive handful of blueberries and 1/4 of a punnet of Graze savoury roasted seeds - yum.

Snacks were:

100g black grapes with 10 almonds at around 11.  The afternoon/evening snack was 25g of pecans. I had some before exercise and some after dinner.

For lunch I had the lefotver minstrone which was still lush, I'll definately be making that again.  Here it is if you want a look:

I'll concede that it doesn't look the most appealing in that picture but trust me it was delicious.

After work I decided to try a new pilates DVD I got last week - I managed 30 minutes before I got so annoyed with it that I had to turn on something else.  As the pilates was for lower body I thought I'd switch it up and do 6 week 6 pack and feeling a bit cocky went for level 2.  Now at the start of the dvd Jillian says to do level 1 for 3 weeks and now I know why - level 2 is the DEVIL!!

If you think it would be easy to do a core workout for 30 minutes you are wrong.  The warm up involved high knees, and burpees!?  Maybe I'm just massively unfit and not ready for that DVD at all?  Here's a bit of proof of how hard I found it - my chest strap after I finished working out.

Rank.

After that, I had a protein shake, made up from 45g whey powder, 150ml semi skimmed milk and a splash of water.

Dinner was super fast and really delicious.  I had half a pack of prawns sauteed in a little oil and garlic with a courgette and 100g of baby plum tomatoes, at the end of cooking i mixed throguh 100g cooked couscous (38g dry weight) and sprinkled with chives:

That looks a bit grim aswell but it really did taste nice.

Calories: 1518/1784
5 a Day? Blueberries, black grapes, 2 in the soup, tomatoes, courgette = 6

Fresh Start

Well yesterday was a good way to get back on it.  Breakfast was oat bran with semi skimmed milk, 1/4 of a punnet of graze savoury roasted seeds and a big handful of blueberries.  Morning snack was a small bowl of black grapes, Lunch was leftover chicken breast with shallots and new potatoes served with sweetcorn (was meant to have salad with it too but Mr D took it to work).  No afternoon snack but I did have a protein shake after Banish Fat Boost Metabolism.

Speaking of which, my knees eally hurt today.  I'm not sure if that's becuase I did the circuits in a random order rather than 1-7 in sequence, either way I won't be doing that again!  Discounting the cool down the HRM tells me I burnt 315 calories so I'm quite pleased with that for about 45 minutes of working out. 

Not sure what exercise will be today, either a dvd and then the gym or I might do a Jillian dvd then try out my new pilates dvd after, I'm not sure.  I'll report back tomorrow.

Dinner was minestrone soup - forgot to get a picture but I've got leftover for lunch so will definately get one today.  Considering the few ingredients it had it was lush: 1tblspn olive oil, smoked streaky bacon (recipe said pancetta but I didn't have any), one onion, two celery stalks, one courgette, two carrots, a tin of chopped tomatoes and 700ml of water and that was it!  After dinner I had a yoghurt and a handful of pecan nuts becuase I was quite far under calories.

Was quite geared up to start RI30 again on March 1st, which I thought was Wednesday but I only realised yesterday that its a leap year so it won't be until Thursday, which is the same day I move to my new office in town so I'm not sure how up for it I'll be, although that does sound like making excuses already so I'll just have to get on with it and stop whinging.  I'm excited to see what the difference will be this time at the end of 30 days.......

Calories: 1373/1836
5 A Day? Blueberries, grapes, sweetcorn, at least 2 in the soup... yup that makes 5.

Coming Clean

A little more than a month before one of my best friends Hen weekend and I'm not feeling my best.  Last week Mr D was pretty ill so food had to be as plain as possible, lots of oven chips and fish fingers were on the menu, and yes I know I could have had something else but cooking 2 separate dinners as well as looking after him, cleaning and working wasn't happening.  As he's been feeling better over the weekend food has improved but I feel tired and rubbish and I know I'm crying out for fresh veggies and meals made from scratch

So this week is a new start of the cleanest possible food I can have.  I've done a meal plan for the week and we're sticking to that no matter what, the only items I will allow that aren't on my clean list are:
- Actimel probiotics
- Protein shakes
- Oat bran
- Milk (organic semi skimmed)

Everything is going to be homemade inclidung the spice mix for fajitas on Wednesday (normally I'd use a packet).

Hoping to exercise every weekday and maybe a little bonus on the weekend depending on what is going on, and certainly no alcohol at least Monday-Friday.

Toying with the idea of starting RI30 again on March 1st although that might turn into any Jillian dvd for 30 days - we'll see!

Here goes nothing....

Happy Monday?

Today I am so tired.  Our neighbours had a little bash for his Birthday this weekend, which he'd promised wouldn't disturb us - how wrong he was! They all eventually went out at around midnight and by 4am I was woken up by them all screaming in the garden.  I think today is going to be a struggle.

The upside is that yesterday we went to Bicester and I got the Mulberry handbag that I promised I would buy myself when I passed my exams, so that was pretty ace, and I also got a really cute coral and blue cardigan from Ralph Lauren kids - can't wait for it to get warm so I can wear it.

Back to the reason for the blog..... Friday progress photos (have you missed them?)

I think those look ok, no better or worse than last week so that is pretty good I suppose.

Food this weekend has been alright, I went out Friday night but made sure that I ate before we left.  Saturday I went to a friends make up trial and ended up driving so no time for breakfast but I did have a punnet of graze nuts as soon as I got there, lunch was 2 sausages and salad and dinner was at our neighbours house:  bean soup, oregano chicken with wild rice and then christmas pudding to finish ....mmmmmmmmmm.

Yesterday, breakfast was an actimel I was just too tired to get up and eat, lunch was a chicken baguette at pret and for dinner we had burgers with salad.  Didn't bother logging in with MFP this weekend, I was too busy so I can't tell you any of my calories I'm afraid but I think I was about right.
After my blog post last week about getting out and going for a run, I didn't expect to be doing it on Friday.  I finished work early and normally I'd go to the gym but the weather was so nice that I thought I might as well go out and see how I'd get on in my first outdoor run in a LONG time.

I've got a little route I normally do up to the park , through there, over the bridge along the canal and then back up the hill home.  I ran aslightly different route through the park than normal so it here are the stats from the run courtesy of my iPod:

6km!  I was really chuffed about that, I ran the whole way, apart from a minute or so at the end to walk to let my legs stretch out, and I also walked up the steep stairs from the canal underpass but they are lethal and I didn't want to fall down running up them!  No other exercise done this weeken (bad) so I'm back on it today!

Thursday gym sesh and Friday weigh in

Sometimes I'm not quite sure what is wrong with me.  On days where I know that I absolutely only have enough time to get a dvd done at the end I feel so tired I want to go to bed, on days where I finish work early or Mr D is at rugby my mind wanders.....

I did RI30 level one yesterday with 2.5 or 3.5 kg weights instead of my usual 1.5kg, and it was tough!  Here's the HRM reading:

Normally I burn about 160-170 for a RI30 session, you'd have thought I'd be happy with that and just hit the showers - No!  Whilst I was making up my protein shake I decided that seeing as I'm busy tonight (Friday)  and won't be able to go that I should go to the gym then instead, so off I went.

20 minute run, although I have to admit I didn't run for the full 20 minutes or more like couldn't.  my usual pace is 5.8mph and at 1-2% incline, that's how I started off when I felt a big pop in my left knee, after easing it back and forth for about 20 seconds it didn't feel so bad so I carried on but I just couldn't settle in after that.  I did manage to run at 6mph then 6.2mph and I did the final 2 minutes at 7.5mph which felt so fast I thought my legs might actually fall off.  2.12 miles completed in the 20 minutes, not ground breaking but at least I did it and now I'm really looking forward to getting back to running outdoors now its getting warmer and lighter.  The first run out will either be a total surprise of how much more endurance I have since I last went or an epic fail.  We'll wait and see.

After the run I hit the weights.  After a few minutes a PT session came into the room I was using whilst I was doing some full pro push ups and the girl said to the trainer "I'll never be able to do those"  so I told her a bit over a month ago I could barely do the "girl" version of a push ups, she seemed a bit more hopeful after that.  By the time I was done and pushed "stop" on the watch here is what I'd burned for the RI30, run and extra circuits:

Not bad for an hour and 20 minutes is it?

But you can see how this has left me with a bit of a dilemma - calories.  After struggling on Wednesday to eat them, all this exercise meant that my target yesterday was over 2000!!  I hadn't planned on doing so much exercise so breakfast was as normal, oat bran, milk, blueberries, graze granola and a heaped teaspoon of PB:

Lunch was leftover slow cooked beef ragu and 50g (dry weight) of wholewheat penne:

I know that doens't look massively appetising but it was delicous!  For snacks I had half a punnet of graze copacabana (chocolate coins and brazil nuts), an apple, a protein shake and 2 cheese straws.  Dinner was 2 slices of turkey, a boiled egg, rocket, some salad cream and 3 moer cheese straws.  Can you see here how I'm already eating rubbish to try and reach my calorie target and that's not on.  I'll have to think of other ways to get up there without either eating so much fruit I go into a sugar coma or eating filth.

Calories: 1703/2050
5 A Day? apple, blueberries, rocket, and 3 servings in the ragu makes 6 - yes!

Moving on to Maintenence.....

Yesterday I decided that I am not going to lose anymore weight, well certainly not actively try to.  Before Christmas I was weghing in at 7st10 and a few ounces, I can't remember the exact figure, but I wasn't really exercising so I can't even hazard a guess at how much of that was fat/muscle.

Whilst it would be nice to be ultra lean I really don't think that's achievable let alone sustainable!  So I've set My Fitness Pal to maintain taking me from 1310 to 1520 calories which doesn't seem like alot but add in exercise and I think I'll struggle to get up there, what do you eat when you just aren't hungry?

I'm pleased to say I'm back on the exercise wagon, Monday I still felt too unwell and was disappointed that I couldn't even do a dvd so to make up for it on Tuesday I did level 3 of the 30 day shred.  I was going to do level one but thought that after 30 days of RI30 that was cheating a bit!  I remember this level being tough, but at the risk of sounding smug I don't think it really challenged me in the same way as RI30.  The calorie burn according to the HRM wasn't as high and I wasn't swearing at the screen so I decided to hit the gym afterwards for a 2 mile run (2% incline) and another 30 minutes of non stop weights with a few mountain climbers and plank jacks thrown in for good measure every  few minutes to keep my heart rate up.

After worrying last week about what I would do when Ripped in 30 ended I feel alot more positive, I've recorded all the circuits on my laptop so that on days where I just go to the gym i can put together a really tough circuit to do after my cardio, I'll keep you updated with pictures every week too.

Yesterday I dusted off Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism and boy was I sweating at the end!  If you've never done it then you can choose at the start whether to do individual circuits or the whole 7 back to back - I think you know which I went for!  53 minutes later, my back was running with sweat and my legs were tired from alot of jumping but I wasn't feeling a raelly good burn in my arms, next time I'm adding weights into everything I possibly can to improve that. Calorie burn:

Well as yesterday was my first day of more calories I'd better let you know how it went.....  I seem to have picked up a peanut butter obsession so breakfast was 40g of oatbran made with 100ml milk, I had a big handful of blueberries, 1/4 of a punnet of graze granola (this was delicious) and a heaped teaspoon of crunchy PB stirred in...mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

At some point tonight I have to do a big shop so lunch yesterday was pathetic - omlette with peppers, spring onion and mushrooms, half a tin of beans, and a bagel with low fat cream cheese - how random is that?  Dinner was way better, before work I got the slow cooker out to use up some diced steak, I put that in with a large glass of red wine (250ml) a tin of plum tomatoes, just over half a carton of tomato passata with basil (300ml), 2 large carrots, 2 onions, 3 large celery stalks, 200g mushrooms and a teaspoon of oregano and just left it all day.  Mr D said he prefered it to minced beef bolognese and I really enjoyed it too (got leftovers today so I'll try and get a picture)  so I'd say that's 2 satisfied customers.

May have also had a Crunchie Blast Ice cream, but that could happen to anyone right?

Calories: 1611/1829 see its hard eating back those exercise calories!
5 A day? Blueberries, i'd say the veg in the omlette was 1, baked beans, and the veggies in the bolognese came to 3 so that's 6 all together - yay!

Today is a GOOD DAY

There are loads of reasons to feel a bit crap today,  feeling rough from being up all night, had a bit of a stomach bug, and well... its a Monday but as the blog title suggests something has happened that makes all of that stuff insignificant.

For 4 years I've been working for my ACCA qualification, its been really tough, and I've thought about quitting alot of times.  I've failed exams, passed some I never thought I ever could and not really had a birthday in that time because it falls so close to the summer sessions that going out and partying raelly doesn't feel right.... Well this year I am going to have the best 27th birthday EVER because at 5:02 am I received one of the best emails of my life:

I know 51 marks when the pass rate is 50 isnt really anything to be proud of, but when I got my results last August and I'd missed the pass by 4 marks I was absolutely gutted.

Whilst today is a pretty special day its also a little bit sad, today would have been my Uncle's birthday but sadly he passed away in 2009.  He was my Mum's older brother and last night when she called to wish me luck she said she knew I would pass becuase the results came out on his birthday and he'd have had a word with someone up there for me!  I'd like to think that's true so thanks Uncle Keith!

In other good news (I'm a bit too happy for a Monday really aren't I?) I had the most excellent day on Saturday even the cock up on the train couldn't spoil it.  I took a little trip up to Birmingham to meet some really lovely ladies (and a few lovely gents and babies) a few of whom might even be reading this now.  I was nervous (and late!) but they were all so lovely, and seeing as I "knew" them from a weight loss wedding site it was awesome to put the faces to the names and have burgers and cake too.

So back to reality today then, I'm going to do a DVD after work, as Mr D is working late I might as well do something with the time so I think I'll break out Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism as that's a bit longer than 30DS.  Food yesterday wasn't good because of how sick Ifelt, I was in bed til late so no breakfast, lunch was fajita chicken with brown rice and a little grated cheese, I had some salted popcorn as a snack and dinner was 2 mini turkey pittas with some kettle chips. I am so bloaty and rank today from all that salt and still feeling sick so I dont think today will be the best day ever either.  Oh well - there's always tomorrow!

RIPPED IN 30!

I did it!  30 days of getting beasted by Jillian, one horrible cold, one rest day and here I am at the end.

Last night I did Level 3, I'd totally forgotten how hideous it is but got to the end and then decided it would be a good idea to crack on with Level 4.  I don't know why I thought that because it wasn't, my shoulders were screaming, and my quads burned so much at the end of circuit one I didn't think I'd be able to carry on.

Today I've weighed in and its exactly the same as last week, which I've got mixed felings about because I don't mind the weight staying the same if the fat goes down but that was the same too!  I've also taken my measurements here they are:

Bust: 32" (-1")
Under Bust: 27" (no change)
Waist (narrowest part): 25" (-1")
Waist (around belly button): 28" (-1")
Hips: 34.5" (-1")
Thigh (widest part): 20" (-1)
Calf: 12" (no change)
Bicep: 9" (no change)

That's 5 inches in total and I can't really complain about that!

So here are the pictures from yesterday:

And the bit that I have been most excited about - THE COMPARISON!!!!

The last two are my favourites hands down, I never thought that rank muffin top would budge in a year let alone 30 days.

So that's it.  Thank you so much for reading (if you did) and for encouraging me along, it was worth it all in the end!

Day 29 (08.02.12)

I can't believe I only have one day left - where did the last 29 days go?

After work yesterday I took ages to get down to doing the dvd, I think because the 4 weeks of each level was over and I didn't really know what I was going to do?  So I decided to do level 1 doing the hard version of everything and with heavier weights.  I won't lie and say it was a walk in the park (because it wasn't) but I was pretty happy with myself at the end for getting through it all, so much so that I decided to crack onto level 2. 

I hated level 2 so much when I first did it and that didn't really change, the plank cardio still sucks, and my wrists were hurting so much that I did the plank jacks and then swapped to the squat jumps from level 3 instead of doing the mountain climbers.  Some things were much easier this time around though, like the pro push ups, I did them all first time and then second time I managed to do them in military push up form rather than on my knees. 

By the end I was dripping in sweat, Mr D came home as I was in the last cardio circuit and helped to push me on to the end, and when it was done he brought me a glass of water whilst I just lay on the floor and tried to catch my breath!  It took me an hour to get both done with level 1 warm up and I burnt 343 calories, not bad eh?

So yesterday it was the first time that I've got changed into my capris and felt pretty good about it.  I'm back to wearing the unflattering tight Adidas ones but I think finally it looks alright:

See? The muffin is greatly reduced!  I'm really excited to do the dvd for the last time today and get the pcitures done so I can do the comparison.

Food today was good, oat bran with grapes for breakfast, lunch was beans, scrambled egg, 2 pieces of ham and a slice of gouda, and for dinner I made this:

That's a chicken, carrot and leek pie with a filo pastry top - about 361 calories for a quarter.

That's what the filling looks like (mmmm got that for lunch today - got to love leftovers) and we had it with tenderstem brocolli and sweetcorn.  As always I had a protein shake after RI30 and I'll admit that I had the last of the PB Nutella cookies as a morning snack!

Calories: 1492/1652
5 A Day? Grapes, baked beans, carrot, leek, sweetcorn and brocolli - DONE!

Day 28 (07.02.12)

4 weeks down.  At this point in every other week I'd move on to the next level of the dvd, but seeing as I'm already on level 4 I'm not sure what to do next.  A sadistic part of my brain wants to level 1&2 back to back today and 3&4 tomorrow but I think that might be a bit ambitious!  Im also toying with digging out the shred and doing level one of that and then level 2 of RI30 today, guess I'll just have to see how I feel later.

Pictures for Day 28 (taken in my parents house):

Quite happy with those actually, I'm really tempted to compare them to day one but I am going to be good and hold out until day 30 to do that.  I also know these look better because of the cotton capris so I think the final pictures will have to be in the stretchy adidas ones for fair comparison! I also took a picture in my underwear before I started this, I'll take another when its over but not sure if I'm brave enough to post that on here too.

Food today was weird, no time for breakfast because I was going back to Wales to collect my laptop, so I had a cookie - I know I know.  Morning snack was some green grapes, lunch was a chicken, bacon layered salad that I bought from M&S and it was vile, and contained little to no chicken!  For dinner I had this:

Dinner of champions???  This was the best meal that I could cobble together at my parents, they never have anything in!  Its a ciabatta halved with grilled gouda on top, 2 slices of ham, some scambled egg and half a tin of baked beans and it was yum!  I also had a protein shake in the car on the way back home.  All that driving yesterday has given me serious back pain today, and I slept terribly last night.... maybe I'll just do RI30 level 4 tonight then.

Calories: 1453/1478
5 A Day? Grapes, lettuce, cucumber, carrot and sweetcorn in my salad, baked beans... wahey 5!

Day 27 (06.02.12)

The countdown continues....3 MORE DAYS!..... After the blog post yesterday I decided I'd go online and take a look at what "Killer Buns and Thighs" might have in store for me, it looks equally as horrendous as RI30 so I think I might give that a go next.  I'm also thinking about alternating with 6 Week 6 Pack which I think I did about twice last year and then gave up, but I'll keep you posted on that. 

Here are the pictures for yesterday:

I had to do RI30 at lunch today becuase we went off in to London last night to see Michael McIntyre, it was only an hour long but he was so funny, I'm really excited to see him at Wembley in December now.

Food was mixed, breakfast was oatbran with blueberrise and grapes, morning snack was a cookie (whoops!) I did RI30 in lunch so grabbed a protein shake and another cookie after (double whoops!) then had chicken and vegetables later in the afternoon once that had gone down.  For dinner I had half a chicken bacon artisan baguette from Pret on the train into Euston, it was lush! 

Calories:1506/1610
5 A Day? Blueberries, grapes, sweetcorn, peas, brocolli... YES!

Day 26 (05.02.12)

Four days left.....I'm staring to worry about what I will do when this is over on Thursday.  I can't realistically keep up with doing a dvd every day - Or can I?  RI30 and 30DS only take up around 40 minutes every day (time to get changed, set up, and do the dvd, tidy away after) so why not?  I guess if I absolutely can't fit it in then that would have to be a day that I do nothing.  I'm quite conscious that I don't want to become obsessive over this, and I'm not sure that I want to just be doing dvds, I really love hitting the gym on a Friday and seeing how my fitness has improved on the treadmill, maybe a good balance might be dvds Monday, Wednesday and Friday and gym on Tuesday and Thursday whilst Mr D is at rugby. 

Anyway, enough of that, here are the pictures for day 26:

The big red line all across my stomach is where I had my tights on under my jeans when we went on our walk - embarassing.

Food was shocking yesterday, no brekkie, we missed it when we were walking, then we got home and I made a batch of PB and nutella cookies - I ate 3 in total.  Lunch was a pack of chicken satay and we ended up at the pub for dinner due to a small planned dinner error.  I had a lasagne and it was yummy.

Calories: 1424/1610
5 A Day?  Not one single fruit or vegetable. Epic Fail.

Day 25 - Snow is falling......

Well Saturday didn't quite go to plan, Mr D's rugby was cancelled because the pitch was frozen so we went into town.  I got some new jeans, a sze 6 in Topshop - quite a shock as their jeans have never fitted me properly.  We popped to the butcher to get more venison burgers (seriously I have to stop!) then came back for the rugby.  I didn't get RI30 started until around 7 and by then it had started to snow  - that was my run on Sunday out of the window!

Here are the pictures for day 25:

I prefer the pictures taken in daylight!

5 a Day totally out the window yesterday, I had mushrooms with my poached egg on toast but that was it!

Been for a long walk in the park today (Sunday)  and I should probably leave these for the blog tomorrow but as annoying as it is, the snow does look really pretty.

It look so nice but trudging through that stuff in my wellies was HARD WORK!

Calories: 1457/1478
5 A day? Not a chance!

Day 24 (03.02.12)

Well day 24 was a Friday, and you know what that means....RI30 and the gym!  I don't know how I've gotten into this routine but weirdly I really enjoy it.  After the dvd was done, it wAs off to the gym with Mr D (he had the day of so could come too), 20 minute run 2% incline (2 miles), then 30 minutes more of all the strength and core moves that I hate the most from 30DS and RI30, it's all totally worth it though when you look down at the HRM and see what you've burnt.

Here are the pictures for day 24:

Is it my eyes or do you see that muscle coming there in my arm??  I know it's not alot but I find that massively exciting.

I'm really starting to see a difference now, I can't wait til it's over and I can compare days 1 and 30... and then eat a great big slice of cake .... HA!

Food yesterday wasn't bad, oatbran porridge with seeds and blueberries, lunch was 2 slices of ham, one of beef, 2 boiled eggs and salad, dinner was fish, beans and homemade wedges.  Not a veggie extravaganza but it was yummy!

Calories: 1596/1869
5 A Day? blueberries, salad, baked beans...FAIL!