Back to the gym

This week I'm attempting to go back to the gym properly! My miserable attempt at managing once last week didn't really cut it. ...

Yesterday was day one. I got the the gym a little later than I'd hoped but still managed to fit in a body combat and spin class. My bum is hurting today! I admit mostly from the seat in the spin class and less so because of my extreme work out but still. Feeling pretty virtuous!

The hardest thing still remains my will power when it comes to eating. Coming back from the gym and feeling virtuous at the fact not only is it 9.30pm and I haven't eaten since 1 but also all the energy I've used up has turned me into a version of the cookie monster from sesame street.

Some of my best low calorie snacking tips are as follows:
- Seafood sticks only contain about 16 calories per stick and virtually no fat
- baby plum tomatoes - only a few cals each
- low cal cuppa soups help with instant hunger pains while you attempt to cook something healthy. Low cal.
- Obviously fruits such as apples, melon, pineapple etc is good (I'm not always as good with this as i should be due to fruit allergies)
- Randomly Del Monte smoothie lollies are really good as a dessert alternative. Only 100 calories per stick and pretty much fat free!

Other tips for a fast food fix without actually eating fast food is anything that can be microwaved easily.
- My real favourite are the vegetable steam bags you can get. for example from Birdseye (Steam Fresh). You just pop it in the microwave for 3 mins and her presto perfect veg.
- Also if you a fan of fish you can get little pockets containing fish in parsley sauce. Only 4 mins and great to go with your veg. Whole email is less than 200 calories.
- If your prepared enough you can always make a large batch of vegetable soup at the start of the week and include a bowl of that as a starter and then before you know it stuffed and only eaten around 350 calories. :)

Opps...

Ekk! So we're now on day 4 and I'll admit it hasn't gone quite according to plan.

I was doing so well on Tuesday and most of Wednesday that actually by Thursday I was ready to eat my own arm i was so hungry. I ended up trying to be "healthy" by eating some Ryvita with "a little" Philadelphia cheese. Only to end up eating half the tub! Opps!

Then due to work being so busy I've given in to what I like to call stress snacking! It's that awful feeling of being slightly stressed and seeing people around you eagerly munching on the Delicious French butter cookies the French natives in the office brought back as "gifts" from their Christmas holiday and then you can't resist any longer and snatch a cookie out the packet as desperately as a crack addict getting their next fix.

I know your plan Frenchies! You want to keep the statistics up that women in the UK are the most overweight in Europe! Women in the UK overweight. Dam you! It seems to be doing a good job with me at least!

Oh well at least it's the weekend now without the dangers of the office. Although without the routine of meal times i must stay focused and avoid the lure of sugary chocolate temptations that lurk in my cupboard left over from the route cause of all my pain. My USA trip! :(

Still luckily I've just seen this article as I'm leaving work: Need any more motivation to hit the gym? Watch the making of the Victoria’s Secret catalogue…  and I'm reminded why I started this who thing in t first place. .. Sigh.... I will look like a Victoria's secret model, I will look like a Victoria's secret model, I will look like a Victoria's secret Model. Maybe if I say it enough it will become true? :)

Day one down..

So day one of diet plan check!

So far not too bad, the only cheating that has occur ed was a few mentos on the bus home after the gym. :)

First day back at the gym after 3 months was pretty tough going though I admit. I'm not sure what possessed me to launch straight into a full on Zumba class with an instructor that had obviously tried to break into Bollywood at some point but instead had resorted to teaching a medley of shimmies and salsa wiggles to to post work gym goers. I actually really enjoyed the class (while trying to not to giggle with pure spectacle at just how enthusiastic the teacher was with his gyrating hip thrusts). Feeling a little achy today though. Hopefully make it to the gym again tonight (if i can stop walking like an 80 year old woman).

On the food front it's also been fairly healthy, mostly thanks to my nifty food diary I've been keeping. Thanks "My Fitness Pal"! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

It's not often I actually find a tool that has aided weight loss but I have to say, rather than spending money on signing up to weight watchers I really do recommend giving a food diary such as My Fitness pal (which is free) a go first. You just put in your details such as weight, height, weight loss goal etc (admittedly rather painful to admit how much i currently weigh) and it tells you how many calories you should aim to eat a day. You can also keep track of the exercise you're doing and try to estimate the calories you're burning. This way it takes into account the fact you can eat extra calories if your burning some at the gym. Simple maths really!

This is probably what helped me loose the weight on my last attempt. I read somewhere that 3500 is the magic number of calories. Every 3500 extra you eat you gain a pound. Every 3500 extra you burn you loose a pound. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calories/WT00011

Ok so it does sound a little simpler than it is in real life but it at least soon helps you realise how manay calories there are in the things that you eat and that you can kid yourself that a chicken ceaser salad is healthy because it has the word salad in the title, but dressings really do have calories. :(

P.s cheating is not advisable. To make this work you have to add every single item you out into your mouth onto the diary. This means drinks, tea, coffee, fruit juice (a terrible offender of mine with between 100-200 cals per glass for some juices) because this is where the hidden calories lie.

It could be worst....

On a positive note it could always be worst right?

I was reminded by this over the festive period when looking at some old snaps of me when I was at school. The pic below is a particular gem, taken I imagine around year 9/10 so i reckon I'm 14ish.

I was always a bit of a bully’s wet dream at school and this pic sums it up. Bad hair/dress sense, train track braces, awful glasses and yes you guessed it, rather pudgey. In fact my only real experience of boys at that age was a sloppy kiss at some birthday disco a kid in my class had. I was really happy as I had a huge crush on the boy in question since year 7. Trouble was the next day at school I was subject to lots of laughing and teasing, only to be told by said boy he did it as a joke, much to the other kids amusement. Nice!

But hey typical of my yo yo approach I did grow into my looks a bit more and lost a few pounds by the time I got to Uni. Only for it to return by 23 but then it is called yo yo for a reason!

Just goes to prove thought it could still be that way and I'm sure looking back on it the kids that picked on me never expected me to trim up by 18. It was at this age I had another similar epiphany, standing in the Topshop changing room on Oxford street struggling to fit into any pair of jeans on my "treat" of a birthday shopping trip out. Surrounded by lots of waif like trendy girls. I distinctively remember throwing a rather embarrassing tantrum and chucking all the clothes I had picked up out of the changing room and crying to my mum that I wanted to go home. So much for fun birthday day out.

A few days later I joined a gym and started loosing weight with a bid to "look hot" by the time I got to Uni. It actually kinda worked (see below). Not without hard work I admit. I did become rather over the top on that occasion with my daily weigh ins and copious amounts of steamed fish and veg. But see kids there's hope for us all! If I've done it once surely, despite my over 25, slowing metabolism it's possible to do it again? Right? Positive mental attitude!

A little about me

2012 is the year! Or at least this is what I've been telling myself right up until the clock struck midnight on new years eve. (See how bleary eyes I look below welcoming the New Year with my equally tipsy little sister).

So we're now here, 3rd of Jan 2012. Back to work, back to gym. For those of you who know me it will be of no surprise I'm starting the year again with the goal of getting in shape. This time however I really want to keep it off.

You see I'm not delusional in thinking that I'm really that huge. More just a little pudgey as i've like to call it. In all honestly I'm doing much better than a few years ago where during a long term relationship (now ended) a mix of comfort eating and "being happy with myself in the relationship" lead me to gain a total of 2 and a half stone in 4 years. It wasn't until I looked at some rather close up pictures my good intentioned father had taken of me at my Masters graduation ceremony, that i was faced with the harsh reality that my dimples weren't the sole cause of my face looking chubby. :(

The very next day I joined a gym and set off on a mission to loose the weight. Living off of pretty much only soup and taking part in as many classes as i could physically manage, I became an expert in calorie counting and Les Mils class routines. I have to say I actually did remarkably well. I went from 12.5 stone down to 11 stone in around 18 months. Pretty good really. Only trouble was it was a little short lived and due in part to a back injury, a trip to the states (aka the land of evil peanut butter treats) and Christmas I've now regained 3 quarters of a stone! Sigh.... well all is not lost and hence my mission to not only get fit but attempt to get super fit! Aka Victoria's secret model fit! (inspired by my trip to the US, the other end of the scale from evil peanut butter treats). Everyone can have a dream right! :)

On the plus side I am now in a new relationship (thanks to the hard work and weight loss I'm sure). Hopefully I can keep it that way! Wish me luck! :)