I’m Back!!

Sorry it’s been a while, I don’t see the point in writing if I have nothing new to say. Now, I do have news. I’ve had the blood tests to ascertain if I was in peri menopausal, slow thyroid and goodness knows what,all normal (for a 47 year old woman).

I’ve been on holiday, trained everyday at the best gym on the Costa Del Sol, some days with the sexy Elliott Wright (TOWIE), came home feeling fat, as you do!

Just before I went away I finally plucked up the courage to approach a stunning lady at my gym, Kelly Sephton, she’s a PT, fitness model, nutrition expert amongst other things. I felt I needed her help in the way of telling me what to eat and when to eat it! She soon customised a 4 week plan for me, which I started the day I returned to the UK.

After 3 weeks I can see the transformation. I haven’t dropped a huge amount of weight but I am changing, my body is looking more trim. I’m feeling motivated again, I’m determined to get to where I want to be before 2017 is through.
Picture 1 below is 2 weeks into plan, picture 2 is 3 weeks into plan, total weight loss is 6lb so not huge amounts but look at the difference!!

Please check Kelly out
and follow her via her website on Instagram, FB and Twitter. www.kellysephton.com

Next time I will tell you about the full allergy test I had last week!!

Re-focus

Meal prepping well underway now, I’ve set my macros on MyFitnessPal app to 50%protein 30% carbs 20% fat 1600 calories per day. 

Macros are these little charts

I put on a hell of a lot of weight over Christmas, mainly fluid. I’ve regained discipline and have lost 5lbs in weight. 

How? Eating three healthy meals per day plus snacks, drinking 2-3 litres of water per day. My PT set me up on a new program which requires 4 visits a week to the gym, to fit those in I will simple be there at 6am!  

Day 2 of my program the unthinkable happened, I took a deadlift wrong, too much weight, 60kg, too many reps 3 x 10, 3 x 3 is all I needed but I wasn’t focused slightly harassed as the gym was pretty full so I struggled to find a free bar and space, I started to loose my form but I didn’t take heed. The result 6 days later, I’ve given up on pain killers and anti inflammatories, visited my osteopath still in lots of pain with very limited mobility. I will remind you I do have a herniated disc, it’s this I have damaged. I have no one to blame apart from myself. Fortunately Claire from Rivermead Osteopaths knows my history and I’m confident she will get me back on my feet.

Well worth a visit http://www.rivermeadosteopaths.co.uk/

Soo much to write, so little space

Where does the time go?  As a hairdresser it’s been a busy month therefore my blog has lapsed, but my exercise has not. Still getting to my Hiit sessions twice a week at 6.15am, the gym either 6am or squeezed in elsewhere, PT weekly, the running not as much, the odd effort session with the club and cross country races on a Sunday, that was until 18th December when I tore my calf muscle in a deep muddy bog as I wrenched my leg out. Game over there and then. 

I’ve been looking at meal prepping, lacking ideas I turned to the services of Juice Kitchen In Chelmsford , they deliver freshly prepped and cooked meals to my door at very competitive prices and the food is delicious. After a couple of weeks I decided to have a go myself, no comparison. They quite often do special offers, at present they have one too good to miss for new customers. 

This picture is my own prepping Anyway with Christmas over with, I am focused again, NYE I will be having a drink, then battle will commence. I know what I want to achieve and I WILL do it

Watch this space 

Beastmode

It’s all back on track…..diet, exercise, running! 

Monday I felt good after my 21 mile easy paced run, so popped along to the gym for some abs and back work. My abs were making an appearance again after my first colonic 🙊

However since having the treatment I became increasingly bloated and uncomfortable, thankfully I had 2 booked in for this week,  Thursday and Friday. Turns out still majorly impacted (gross subject sorry) and full of trapped wind, I can’t believe I’m telling everyone this! Apparently because I’m small and I have a narrow pelvis there are a lot of kinks in my bowel where things get stuck. After my 3rd session I felt human and not bloated any more.

Tuesday 6.15am Hiit session, Wednesday rest day, Thursday PT session, Friday 5.30pm Hiit session . Saturday I took off work as wanted to be part of the first cross country race of the Essex League, as I had the day off I thought I would warm up first and do Chelmsford Park Run that was an acceptable 5k didn’t go mad 23.25 so respectable. Couple of hours later 7km undulating cross country race. Sunday I had pre entered the Tiptree 10 mile road race, which I had to do, I just had to. That was tough my legs were soo tight, still a very respectable 1hr 25 mins, although this resulted in me hobbling around the rest of Sunday. 

So my cardio is up ⬆️ Fat burning exercise is up ⬆️ Protein intake is up⬆️ Calorie intake is down ⬇️ 

A winning combo……

Back on it

Back home and now to sort the collateral holiday damage.

Last week of holiday I smashed out gym sessions some days I ran also, tho non of this would negate the all day alcoholic binge I was on. I had lost the plot.

Now I’m home that’s all changed. 

Sunday was a huge running event I’ve been part of organising the past few months, it’s called The Essex Way Relay, it consists of 10 legs that start from Epping and end in Harwich over an 86 mile route. A large amounts of running clubs participate but our, Springfield Striders submits by far the most teams. I’m usually in charge of organising over 100 runners before and during along with the men’s captain. We also run. The results our ladies, men and vets won so the hard work was worth it. I managed to fall over, quite badly grazing my arm, feeling quite battered today. My run wasn’t my greatest the 3 weeks of booze took its toll.

Today Monday I’m back to personal train job with the Brettman, great session building what he calls the foundations. Though in full thrust lifting a weighted bar above my head I didn’t move my head quick enough and manger to smash into my chin. Now that hurt!

I’ve also started a 5 day juice cleanse with a company on Chelmsford called The Juice Kitchen, they are doing a special offer so I thought I’d tuck in and shed the unwanted pounds (well kickstart) for this week 

https://www.facebook.com/JuiceKitchenChelmsford/

Day 1 and so far so good. Wish me luck for the next 4.

Holidays!

Only 5 days left here in Spain. It’s been a struggle. I have eaten well and healthy if I’m honest, I brought along my protein powder, trying white chocolate this time, some protein bars and chia seeds.  I am drinking 3-4 litres of water per day. I’ve either run or been to the gym 6 out of 7 days per week yet I still feel fat. Some of my clothes I bought only end of May don’t fit. 

Don’t get me wrong the exercise really isn’t a chore, I love it, it sets me up for the day. I’ve always done it if I’m honest but this is the first time I’ve joined a gym on holiday. I dread to think how I’d be if I hadn’t.  Plus I’m truly enjoying the gym, I’ve done some really tough workouts, used what I’ve been taught, plus advice from a couple of world class fitness peeps who I follow on Instagram, they’ve been really helpful.  Also YouTube is really good. I can’t wait to get home and continue this new found love now I have the confidence with the weights.

Anyway back to the flab issue….
Question….why?

Answer……alcohol

Not even that much, just a steady amount from lunchtime onwards most days. I’ve gone from no alcohol to two holidays of constant boozing, after Thursday no more….

Getting Better With Age

It’s been a tough week, mega busy at work as going away soon, kids off school, I still got it done though I am laying on the sofa blurry eyed at this moment.  

I made my own protein balls, I am uber proud of these and they taste lovely .
Ingredients 

Dates (200g)

Ground almonds (100g) 

Almond butter (a dollop)

Coconut oil (a dollop)

Chia seeds (couple of spoonfuls)

Dessicated coconut (couple of spoonfuls)

Cacao powder (few spoonfuls)

Vanilla protein powder (30g)

Water as needed

Zapped it all up (remember to take the seeds out of the dates) rolled into balls, a few I rolled in melted cacao buttons and coconut think I may have overdone the buttons though. They last for ages in the fridge and can be frozen.

This weeks activity consisted of 

Monday 7am PT session with Brett Bowen, 7pm offroad trail race with my fast runner friends Nikki and Catherine,  almost 6 miles. 

Tuesday 6.15am Hiit session 

Thursday an hour weight session at home

Friday The Ipswich Twilight 10k, I smashed a PB by over 2 minutes and also was first in my age category 45-49! I won my first trophy, so pleased and forever grateful to my pacer Nikki.

Sunday a very tough 13.1 miles, mainly off road and hilly but with a twist, the middle 5 miles was a road race put on by my running club. Followed by 30 minute ab session.

So yes I’m shattered,  bring on another week . 

Brutal Truth

Count down to my holiday begins! The naturist in me will soon be released! Only joking I do wear bikini bottoms, regardless there’s nowhere to hide any imperfections, I’m even frantically rubbing bio oil into my scars from my op 3 times per day.

This week has seen me focused on what I’m eating and drinking again, although had a few blips. Physical activity has been spot on.

Monday 7am personal training session with Brett, later in the afternoon  45 minutes on my abs in the garden.

Tuesday 6.50am DNARAW Hiit session at the gym, mad day at work, hill effort session with Springfield Striders RC in the evening .

Wednesday 9am personal training session with Brett, worked until 6.15pm then did a sociable easy paced off road run from the pub. I did stay for food this time as have avoided it in the past and I couldn’t resist the steak and ale pie followed by a Belgian waffle http://www.theredlionmargaretting.co.uk   Great pub , very friendly staff and lovely food.

Thursday I took as a rest day, long day at work instead. 

Friday I had booked in for the Hiit session with DNA bootcamp in the evening, I was horrified to receive an email saying it was cancelled. What was I to do? Open my Dropbox folder with my PT Tabata exercises on from Brett and got stuck into that for an hour. Happy Days.

Saturday, my pregnant friend Nikki offered to pace me round Parkrun. I only took her up on this as normally she is way to fast for me. By now my entire body is aching, I had low expectations for a PB. Amazingly I smashed it! PB by 15seconds thanks to Nik’s words of encouragement and pointing out the next person I was to “pick off” I also rode there and back. At 12pm it was the club’s annual BBQ, now I will be honest, 1 burger, 13 chipolaters, too much vodka to count, Prosecco, head stands, handstands later we carried it on in town until 2am. I infact went on a 14 hour bender!  I didn’t have a kebab though folks 

Sunday, yep I got up, rode to Terling, ran 8.3 miles off road, rode home 15 miles in total. The run was tough, my legs tired, soo much so I tripped, couldn’t right myself and managed to land on my shoulder, band my hip and my head!! I’m now totally destroyed.

There you go, my weekend is now a right off where eating is concerned, tomorrow’s a new day, all is not lost.

The Important bits

My change of lifestyle had begun. September 2015, the carbs were ditched, though not entirely, protein was my main source of food. Be aware a totally carb free diet is near impossible, they are everywhere, fruits, salads, veg, are the good ones, it was the bread, pasta, potatoes, rice I ditched or have in moderation. As I put it I don’t actively add carbs to my diet, unless I have a race on the next day.

I discovered ways to get extra protein in my diet in the form of protein powder.  After any training I have a protein shake.

• 1 scoop  protein powder,
• 250 ml Alpro Almond milk or Coconut milk, these milks have less calories, more calcium than cow’s milk.

The famous protein pancakes my friends hear me banging on about.

• 1 scoop protein powder,
• 1 egg
• Splash of milk

I eat these with Nutella, Almond butter, fruit with Greek yoghurt, Zero Syrup. A few pointers, I eat between 3-5 meals a day, I no longer pick in between meals as I don’t feel I need to, I never ever eat low fat, I don’t measure or weigh stuff. Coconut Oil instead of Olive oil to cook with, finally I drink 2-3 litres of water per day.

 chocolate protein pancakes with Nutella and banana.

The bottom line is exercise alone does not work for me, diets do not work for me,  and I most certainly am what I eat.

I buy my protein powders from http://www.bulkpowders.com cheaper than on the high street, fast delivery and very often some very good deals

From The Beginning, Well Almost

I’ll keep it as brief as I can.  From a young age I battled with my relationship with food, I put some of it down to the fact my parents would not let me leave the table until I had eaten everything on my plate, as probably with a lot of you.  The effect in latter life was not being able to go to a buffet without wanting to clear the table personally,  I had a massive hatred for food wastage, though those are just a couple of examples.

As an adult I discovered exercise, by my late teens, early twenties food was winning the battle, I found the more I exercised and less I ate the more weight I lost, years of yo-yo dieting ensued.  Back then the weight came off from where I wanted it to, therefore still managing to retain my boobs, so with my tiny waist and big boobs a short career in glamour modelling began, until my boyfriend at the time put paid to that. I don’t have many regrets in life but that is most definitely the biggest, at 18 years old putting a boyfriend before what could have been a lucrative career.

All through my twenties my weight would fluctuate between 8 and 10 stone. Thirties, marriage, two children. Exercising got harder and harder until I discovered running, I could step out of the front door and just run. 8 marathons,20 something half marathons, and countless 10 milers, 10k, 5k, 5 milers, on or off roaders I’m now the Ladies Captain of my local running club the Springfield Striders.

Life with a young family, running my own business, having a husband that would work 24/7 made fitting in exercise extremely difficult, marathon training was almost the third person in my marriage, you become selfish, but you have to be, you have to be strict and regimented and nothing else mattered, well in my head that’s how it had to be. To my horror I gained weight marathon training!!!  How the hell could that happen? I’ll tell you how, I treated it like pregnancy, it became my reason to eat!!!

2014,I took up boxing and started cycling just more stuff to try to counteract the fat. 2015, Bootcamp, more importantly HiiT (high intensity interval training) I started to notice I was getting that definition back. I wanted more of this!! I had a little chat with Brett from DNA bootcamp about diet, he gave me lots of pointers and was always happy to help with any of my questions. I soon realised from the diets he showed me that they were mainly high protein. That was it I changed the way I ate, I had been addicted to carbs, gradually I ditched them, no panic though as natural carbs are everywhere, very quickly the weight started to drop, muscle started to build, my running improved massively.

This was a lifestyle change, not a diet……….