Planning for Week 7

It has been great this week, with the challenge I gave myself to try all the classes at the gym.  So I missed bodyJam on Monday - it was only one class and I went on to conquer the next two 'new classes' and now have just two to go to complete my goal!  I've decided I need to plan for week 7 in advance to set myself new challenges and goals and stay motivated!

 

I will do my meal planning this week and Sunday will be cook- up day!  Cauliflower soup, Pumpkin soup, Broccoli soup and the yummy Chicken soup!  I reckon I might have to do a Nat's Lasagne, and Nacho's as well!  Given it is school holidays, I will see if I can spread the cooking out so I am doing a bit at home each morning!  I will write my meal plan and shopping list on here if I can!

Exercise -  I really liked doing the classes this week but I also need to stick to my L&S program a bit more.  I really like boxfit - that will be on my permenant schedule I think.. I have a feeling kickboxing might make it there too!  Body combat has been cancelled but I really like body attack and body pump double on the Saturday (but that means missing out on doing the SSS designed by Mish).

I will add more here as I go..

Update:  as at sunday evening!

I cooked up the Indian Chickpea Soup, printed out my meal plan and recipes, made up a shopping list and went shopping!  I have everything I could possibly need to be healthy this week!

Gym time: 6pm-8pm
Monday: upper and bodyjam
Tuesday: lower and boxfit
Wednesday: upper
Thursday: strong man training
Friday: kickboxing and core work (leave earlier -starts at 6pm)
Saturday: SSS
Sunday: Rest day

Food Diary for Week 6/7

Weigh in: 55.4kg

Wednesday
In: 1380
Out:  580  (Strength plus RPM)

Thursday
(55.0kg)
In: 1350
Out:  430 (Strong Man Training - loved it!)

Friday
(54.9kg)
In: 1450
Out:  -350 (Kickboxing - loved it!)

Saturday
(54.8kg)
In: 1400-1500  (Dave prepared roast lamb and vege for dinner so had to guestimate the cals!)
Out: -520cals  (Mish's SSS -1hr 30mins) 

Sunday
(55.1kg)
In: 1700 (maybe more - total blowout on cupcakes and M&Ms
Out:  Rest Day

Monday
(54.6kg)
In:  1400
Out: -300 (strength)

Tuesday
(54.7kg)
In: 1300
Out: -500 (boxfit and strength)

Weigh In
54.6kg
(Goal: 54.9kg)

Choc strawberry Snack!

4 medium strawberries (80g)
1 heaped tablespoon of ricotta (extra light) (35g)
1 heaped teaspoon of milo (5g)

Method:

Chop strawberries into bite sized peices, stir through the ricotta, sprinkle with milo and stir as you eat!

Prep Time:  <5mins
Energy: 60cals
Protein: 5g
Fat: 1.3g
Carb: 6g
Fibre: 1.4g

Notes:  I tried to take a photo but it somehow managed to get eaten before I had a chance! lol

My Rest and Reward Day!

I've worked hard this week, and I am honestly amazed I have stuck so well with the program this time.  I am thrilled to be here still even though I am not losing weight as yet (0.85kg doesnt' count!).  Yes, I lost some in preseason too...  Anyway, I decided to take today as a true rest and reward day!  Go-carting racing, a trip to the beach for lunch, and then an afternoon reading!

My four men!  Cam, JD, Dave, and Dyllan!

"Yeah baby!  I did that!"

Middle of winter and the boys just have to get in the water!

That's me, trying not to get wet in the rock pools!

Failure is NOT an option!

I watched the live feed with Talia the other night and she said "not succeeding was never an option" - Mish picked up on that phrase and asked "what does that look like?".  The 'Moment with Mish' hasn't left my mind, failing seems to be all I seem to do and there was one other great bit of advice.. tracking food and calories helps to keep one accountable.

These bits of advice have been floating around in my head ever since! I started my food diary on Calorie King straight away, logging that days food.  I then started my blog post for keeping track on a weekly basis (you should be able to find it in my post list for this month).  It is already working for me - I allowed myself to 'pick' yesterday and made a few 'not so good' choices with my food.  I was already out of routine as I missed my morning workout (I went, but DOMS in my neck/back and the resulting headache just didn't work! 10min rule followed and I chose to opt out) but I ended up having a run that afternoon after seeing just how many calories I had eaten!  If anyone is not doing it.. I highly recommend it!  If 1200cals per day is your goal, how do you know if you have met that goal unless you measure it?  I don't plan on calorie counting forever, but I do plan on getting my body used to good healthy food, and my mind used to seeing and feeling what 1200 cals looks like so I when I do stop calorie counting, I can be confident I am eating well!

I headed up this blog post as 'Failure is NOT an option' for a reason, as that is what I want to talk about.  Everyday I make excuses, be 'kind' to myself, and put things off until tomorrow.  I'm not failing I tell myself, but just re-negotiating. I didn't see anything wrong with this... I got where I wanted to be, just really really slowly.  And in all honestly, I wasn't really getting where I wanted to be.  I was getting close, but just not quite making it.  I fell short of 1st class Honours by 2%,  I have missed my goal date for finished my lit review (by a mile!), I haven't even managed to lose 5kg in a round yet, I have missed fitness tests, not met goals (not even checked what they are and forgotten about them!), I've not been meal planning or shopping, Oh hell, the list just goes on and on and on and on....  It is time to stop kidding myself!

Well, that is great, but how do I stop kidding myself.. how do I move on from here.  I am doing okay - getting to my workouts each day, just not putting in 100% - maybe 80%, getting frustrated that it is taking me over an hour to get the workout done so I am not finishing the abs and stretching.  In other words.. I am failing! Is accepting less then perfect okay?  Yup, for sure, and that has been an important step for me to realise and to still keep going even though I am not doing 100%.  But now I need to move on to the next lesson...

Failure is NOT an option!

What I want right now.. my real and true goals!
1. To lose weight and have a great strong body.
That means... a) stick to 1200 cals
and  b) follow my workouts to the letter!

Now, in order to meet a) I will need to keep my food diary, and in order to meet b) I will need to harden the f'up and get to the gym a bit earlier and leave a bit later.  Now, holidays are coming up which is going to throw a BIG spanner in the works.. but, I will just have to suck it up and go to the gym later in the day!

So how do I get in the right mindset to acheive these things?  Well this is what I am doing!  Last night I grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote by hand "Failure is NOT an option", and under it, I wrote 4 things I wanted to acheive today.

1) Finish my IL-6 structure section
2) Stick to 1200 cals for the day
3) New class - Fitball
4) Fill in some the contract for work.

These are things that WILL happen today - no matter what.  I went to fitball - I had to get the kids off to school a little earlier to get there in time, and Nat couldn't make so I went alone.  But I went.  Burnt a measly 100cals in 35mins but then went and did run/row intervals to burn off another 150cals in the next 25mins!
So far I am sticking to my cals - cooked up a yummy omlette after gym, had my oats for breakfast.. planned my snacks - just need to work out dinner!
Next I am going to collect all the papers I need for my IL-6 writing, will probably have to run into uni to use the internet/databases and printer to get some more papers as well - but write it I shall!
Filling in the contract will be my evening job!

So failure is not an option - off I go!

Week 5 Food and Exercise Log

Weigh in: 55.8kg

Wednesday
IN: 1250
OUT: -350 (Zumba + L&S indoors program)
Perfect!

Thursday
IN: 1600
OUT: -200 (run - had DOMS in back.. couldn't do todays L&S program)
Not so great choices today!

New Mantra.. failure is not an option!

Friday
IN: 1600
OUT: -250 (fitball plus cardio- no hrm so just a guess)

Saturday
IN: 1500
OUT: -750+ (body attack, body pump, plus 20mins cardio - no hrm so just a guess )

Sunday
IN: 1300
OUT:  went go-carting and to the beach!  Lots of fun, not many cals!

Monday
IN: 1300 -1400  (was doing great but munched on a few handful of Chex)
OUT: -250 (strength training - no hrm so just a guess)

Tuesday
IN: 1000 (wow.. a bit low!) I might adjust this tomorrow as I am sure I will end up having a midnight snack!
OUT: -250 (boxfit + strength training - no Hrm so just a guess)

Weigh In: 55.4kg  Yey!  I lost weight!
(Goal: 55.3kg)

How to choose your ideal weight

What is your ideal weight?  It is one of the those perplexing questions that doesn't really have an answer.  It comes down to a few factors..

1. what science says is your healthy weight range
2. what is a maintainable lifestyle for you
3. how you feel about your body
4. your health

Now I will break down that down, using myself as an example.

When I started on my weightloss/fitness journey, I started at 69.9kg - right on the border of 70kg.  Now for a lot of people, this is a fantastic healthy weight, but I am both short and fine boned.  Discounting the second factor, height and weight together give you a great general guide as to where you need to be to reduce health risks associated with weight.  These will allow you to calculate your BMI.  Now, BMI doesn't work for everyone so take note if you may fit into one of the exclusion groups!
At 69.9kg I was also right on the border of obesity.  At this point, I just wanted to be healthy so decided to set my goal at the border of a healthy weight range.. that was to reach 59.9kg.  Now if I use BMI as my only guide, then I get to sit anywhere between 48kg and 60kg.  That is an awfully large range and for some people, the top of the range is perfect, for others the lower end is perfect.. but how do you know which to choose?
http://michellebridges.com.au/tools/bmi-calculator/
The next thing I looked at was 'build' charts, or the 'met life' tables.  These are completly outdated and you need to be careful to an inch to your height, and if you are really really short, or really really tall.. they are way out!  I use my wrist as an indication of build.. I can wrap my finger and thumb around my wrist and have them overlap which means small build (touching is medium, not touching is large build)  - this gives me 108-121pounds or 49-55kg.  It fits with the BMI and gives me a second aim.. to be under 55kg.
http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/met.htm
Lastly, I look at my waist measurement but for others it maybe one of the first things -depends on your build.  I am unlucky to be an apple - I carry nearly all my weight in my torso (and not the boobs!).  My waist measured over 90cm before I started the 12wbt, over 1m when I was almost 70kg.  Now it is sitting just under 88cm which is fantastic... that was my first 'measurement' goal.  At 88+cm you are at a much higher risk of disease due to visceral fat around your vital organs, the next milestone is 80cm - once I get below that I will be in the 'normal' risk area.  This the vital information that prompted an entire government campaign that you probably already know.. the measure up program! 
http://www.measureup.gov.au/internet/abhi/publishing.nsf/content/home
The next measure you may want to look at is body fat.. I am at about 28% body fat which is healthy but not ideal. This is more for athletes and those building body mass however if you are dropping below 20% bodyfat just due general health and fitness then you need to think about the risks you are taking with your health.  To find out your bodyfat percent you can get a professional scan done (dexascan), or see your doctor or local gym to get a caliper test done.  I don't recommend body fat % scales as they seem wildly inaccurate unless you are spending $250+ on them.

Now, that is the first factor out of the way - the rest is really up to you.  You need to take into account the effort required to get to and maintain your 'ideal' weight.  If you have to regiment your diet and exercise to maintain then chances are it is not maintainable long term.  Unless you are a professional and are working toward a particular event, then want to be able to eat without counting calories and be able to enjoy your food and the occasional glass of wine.  Comfortable and healthy and easy - that will all determine were your 'ideal' weight lies - one that is maintainable long term for you and your lifestyle!

Next thing.. we all want to look good but hey, my 'good' might not be yours!  I want to be able to see some muscle so want to get as low as I can, but others are quite happy to maintain at a level where they have some softness and curves to their body (we all know that the boobs go first!).   This is such a personal thing and although not health related, it is still important!

Lastly - we want to be healthy!  Unless we are training for a specific competition, we need to have body fat in store for sickness, and to maintain a healthy balance in our bodies!  Too little body fat and we lose more then weight - our periods, hormones, growth, moods, hair, and all of our health will start to go.  If you are losing weight and starting to get sick more often, feel lethargic and run down or feeling any kind of unwell, you need to stop and think about your health.  Sometimes a rest is all we need, sometimes we need to listen to our bodies and realise our limits.  I was 43kg at one point in my adult life.  I developed a mental illness that I will never fully 'recover' from.  It will always haunt me.  Cause or effect?  I don't know, but I do know that maintaining a healthy body is essential for mental health!