Plugging away

So things have just been the same old. Settling into more of a routine with things. I did a 5km run at the gym yesterday morning. Did it in 31min. That's a 6m20s km! Very happy with that! 

Tomorrow is weigh in day and 3 weeks left. Today I weighed in at 78.4kg so I suspect it will be that tomorrow. 75kg is still with in reach. 

Everyone is always so shocked by how much I have lost but I am still only seeing how far I have to go! It's silly and I'm frustrating myself with it. I have done so much and worked so hard but it's those changes in my body after kids that's hard to accept. The fat on the tummy is the hardest. :( 

Well the rest day was so worth it

After feeling a little frustrated last night at my decision to have a rest dayi woke up this morning and killed in my training. 

I did my 5.5km road run in 43mins I them went to the gym and did a heavy weight session on my legs. 

I also weighed in at 78.7kg!

That now takes me to 20kg lost since the day Zach was born on the 17th march. 

7.9kg lost in 8 weeks on this challenge. 3.7lg till my goal of 75kg for this challenge and 13.7kg till my ultimate goal of 65kg! 

I have also decided to change my training schedule to do one session of heavy weights and one session of high intensity super sets on upper body and lower body. Add in Mondays PT session and them I only have 1 more session to make up so I think I will add a whole abs session. This will ensure my muscle are getting adequate rest. 

I mentioned I changed my diet a little well I added in 3-4dates soaked over night in 50ml almond milk to my morning smoothy and I have also added pink salmon to my lunch time omelette. It's not much but I was always so so hungry so I just think I needed a little more fuel. Losing almost 1kg a week would signify my calorie deficit is enough :) couples with workouts and muscle recovery I'm thinking I have a good balance. It makes my calories back around 1500-1600 a day but I'm clearly meeting it and using it. 

Listening to my body

So this morning at 5am I made the executive decision to have a rest day. My body is tired my mind is tired and I just needed some rest and I honestly feel really good for it :) this isn't a stop and giving up its that for 8 weeks I have been pushing my body hard and it just needed some tlc. 

I am hoping this rest will enable me to come back hard in these last 4 weeks. 

I simply wasn't able to put the intensity in or mentally fight through the pain. I tried refocusing etc but nothing worked. So perhaps some time out will :) 

I was a little worried I was over training a bit. My body can certainly handle it but if my body tells me to give it a rest then I need to. 

Tomorrow morning I will do my 5km road run then my leg session. My legs will be tired after my run but I have only done legs once this week and I am only able to do cardio before the gym so it is what it is :) I will just give it all I can :)

I'm feeling more motivated and focused today which is great and doesn't normally happen on a rest day. Normally I feel like I'm letting myself down but rest and sleep are just as important as diet and exercise in the weightloss battle. Understanding this and working with it not against it makes a world of difference mentally. 

So official weigh in for the end of week 8 was 79.4kg. :) 

Struggling

I think it's just going to be one of those weeks. I'm still getting out of bed in still doing my workouts and in eating well I'm just finding it hard to put the intensity into my workouts. I did well with my run this morning but when it came to the weights when it got tuff my mind wasn't there to push through the pain. I kept trying but I just didn't have it. So I changed it up a but instead of my normal arm routine I decided to give some of the big heavy weight machines a go. Still worked my arms but it was just something different and it certainly didn't have the intensity of my normal workout. 

This will happen though and I just need to work my way through it. Keep up my training and stick to the diet and eventually the slump will pass. It's highly likely it's woman issue related which is typical lol :) 

So we are down to 4 weeks to go! Time is actually goin really quickly. Tomorrow is weekly weigh in day but this morning I was 79.4kg so it's likely I will weigh in at that. It's a 500g loss for the week which is really good healthy weight loss but it leaves me 3.5-4.4kg to lose to get to my goal. In 4 weeks it's possible but it will be pushing it. All I can do is try and try my hardest :) 

I'm going to do measurements today. I haven't done them since week 6. Hopefully I see some good number drops. 

I've been trying to do more and more research as I don't feel u can ever know enough. I have found this guy in the US that seems to know his stuff. He has competed in a lot of comps but has a phd in nutritional science. I want to see if I can learn some more from him. His name escapes me right now he has a company bio something. Will have to look it up again. 

I only have a cert III in fitness and I need to complete my cert IV but I just feel the stuff taught in these courses is so general and basic. I would like to specialise in women, pregnancy, post partum, focusing on proper metabolic function and optimal body performance. 

Sure just going to the gym is a great start but surely if u could optimise ur time there to achieve great results and the best body u can for the time u available. Most trainers out there only have likited knowledge and although they enjoy fitness they are really passionate about it. 

Granted the gym I go to is a fantastic community gym not really offering any sort of elite type of training as it's not their thing. 

Guess what I am saying is I want to learn from the people who live and breath this stuff. Spend there time understanding the science and physiology behind it all. 

Not just sticking to the age old for women lots reps at low weights so u don't bulk up and become hulk barbie! 

No woman unless taking a testosterone steroid will not naturally become this! :) 

Enough rambling just excited to learn more :) it's been a few years since my brain has had a good decent workout! Love my kids but little kids aren't really mentally stimulating. 

why?

So I have had a few people ask me recently why I am doing this.
I think I have gone over it before but its something I do remind myself of every day so its probably a good time to go through it on here again.

Before I had kids I was always in search of a better looking body. after I had kids this all changed. I remember when I was younger and my parents would take us to the water park or the beach my mum always used to sit far away and read her book.  She was so embarrassed by her weight that she didn't join in life with us. I never want this to happen to me. I have always been an active person anyway but I do not want my weight dictating my life in anyway.  I could just accept being over weight and get out there anyway but I know I wont. I would always have that voice in my head and this would distract from what was happening. Now I am not expecting to look like a 20 year old in a bikini! lets be realistic here I am 32 soon and a mum of 3! :) but I do want to be able to put a swimsuit on and get out there and run around and do everything that my kids are doing. To have the energy and the fitness to keep up. Having 3 boys that never stop I am sure that will be a challenge in itself some times but knowing this keeps me going.

I also want a long healthy life with them.  I had kids a bit later, partly from working on my career and meeting my hubby late and then the 2 years of miscarriages and trouble conceiving but it is what it is and I would like to still have enough years left in me when the grand kids come along.

Finally I want to be a good role model for my kids. I want to lead the healthy happy life I want them to lead.  Being boys I am sure they will be able to get away with eating a lot more crap than I can but that's OK as long as I give them the foundations that's what matters. I can't expect them to eat healthy and be active if I am not.

One of those days with some refocusing required.

Woke up this morning thought I was all pumped to go but got to the gym and fizzled. Had a PT session but my mind and body just didn't have it. After that I did a 9km ride and a fat burner circuit on the elliptical trainer but I didn't have it in me to push. Normally I can focus on the music and push myself really hard. Today I just wanted to stop lie on the floor and go to sleep! 

It's leading up to that time of the month again so it may just be that. Having had 3 kids in 3 years I haven't had them very often so it will probably take my body a while to adjust to the hormonal changes again. Still a week away though and im alread bloated and crampy and sore back. Agh so not fun! Also need some extra willpower as I do just want to EAT! 

The two oldest are at day care so during little Zach's nap I might have a nice hot Epsom salt bath and print out my 7week comparison photos and some more motivational ones. Only 4 1/2 weeks to go. 

I'm still eating well but could be better and training but as yesterday was rest day and today only burnt 700cal I feel like I'm relaxing too much. It's so close to the end now is not the time to back off.

I'm going to spend the arvo refocusing and tomorrow I'm going to hit the gym hard! :) strict diet until the finish line. 

I can do this and I will because I want it! 

Rest day!

Finally after 9 days straight due to having last Thursday off instead of the Sunday the rest is a welcome relief to my body. 

I will do some stretching today which I'm looking forward to but that's it. My hip flexors are very tight. 

I went for my 5.5km road run yesterday. I felt really strong running yes actually running not my jog and did the first half super quick but I stopped to walk once to tie my jacket around my waist and after that my legs just felt super heavy and sore. I kept jogging on the way home woul jog as far as I could push then I walked again till some lactic acid was gone and then back to jogging again. 

I did the 5.5km including a 7min walk warm up in 50mins so I was happy with that. After that I went to the gym for an arm workout :) I superset most of it but I could certainly feel the fatigue in my body. 

So yesterday I did something I knew I shouldn't have. For 2 reasons. Firstly the bad fat calories and 2nd because I felt like utter crap afterwards. So my mums owns a fish and chip shop and B and I are in the process of buying it of her. Now B loves his cooking so we are changing and he has already changed the a lot of the food from frozen stuff to freshly made stuff. It is still battered and crumbed and deep fried but it's a lot fresher and way better tasting. Having 3 kids I won't be able to do much physical work in the shop but I am going to be doing a lot of the food preparations here at home. 

Anyway so I took the boys in there for lunch yesterday and we had some fish and potato scollops and chips. I didn't eat overalls but within the hour of eating it I felt tired and lethargic and got the worst headache. By late afternoon I had a tummy ache :( no wonder over weight unhealthy people feel horrible, tired, sick and lethargic all the time :( 

I would love to add a healthy range but it's not what people want when they get take away fish and chips. They already do sandwiches, wraps and salads but I might just see if there are some other options perhaps? For those mums or dads out there who want to get takeaway on a Friday night the family wants fatty stuff but one might not. I would usually order grilled fish and salad but surely I can come up with something else. 

So I'm still a little frustrated by what my brain sees as lack of progress. I know I have come so far in such a short space of time and I am looking forward to plugging away at achieving my goal over the next 5 months. I would like to be 65kg by Chrissy! 

Now in saying this of course this will be my focus plus this new shop and also trying to get our family into a routine for all of this but B and I have discussed it and we have decided to start trying for our final member of our family early next year. Probably around march when Zach turns one. I would like to make sure all my hard work to lose my weight and get fit doesn't go down the tube so I would also like to spend some time researching over the next few months safe ways to exercise etc. I would like to continue with my daily gym work outs etc and I know this is healthy to do I just want to make sure I am doing the right things :) 

So lots and lots going to be happening in the next 12moths! Every exciting!