Fitness Friday: Long Term Progress

Hi there! 

I've been a bit relaxed about writing my Fitness Friday posts recently, life has been so busy and with quitting my job, my mum being in hospital and really trying hard to train for Tough Mudder 

But my mum is doing really well, Tough Mudder is completed and I started my new job this week so fingers crossed things are all on the up!

I've debated showing comparison photos before; I'm not one for taking underwear photos in the mirror anyway as I just don't want to see myself but i have forced myself to do it just to see how progress is being made. My weight has stayed the same (roughly) for a long time but I know my body has changed composition and shape slightly so I needed to do it to see results.

I highly doubt anyone will see those pictures but I do have a comparison photo wearing a dress of mine that is a huge favourite! It's a crepe shift dress with leather waistband and bottom from M&S Limited Collection. I love the style of it being so simple and it has been brought up to date with the addition of a leather waistband which is so simple but chic and it goes for many occasions - apart from maybe an all you can eat buffet, it definitely doesn't stretch!

Here's a picture from my phone from when I wore it out in March when me and M went out with some uni friends. It was a really good night out and I loved wearing the dress with a new found confidence.

Here's a comparison photo from when I first bought the dress to now:

Apart from my hair being longer I think there's such a big difference between the photos.

My waist is definitely smaller, my arms are smaller (might not show up as much but I know for sure they are!) and my lower stomach and hips are also smaller. most of this can be seen by looking at the latest picture and seeing that the dress actually fits me rather than being too tight in the first picture.

There's also much less of a double chin in the latest picture!

After all the recent set backs I've had in my fitness plans it has been really important to look back and see how far I've come. Whilst these changes have happened over the last 3 years and aren't that drastic, I know I haven't lost 5 stone or anything, but progress is progress and it has been such a lifestyle change.

I was a bit disheartened with my exercise leading up to Tough Mudder even though I'd been working so hard in the 8 months leading up to it, on the day I found it hard as some of my fitness had gone where I was so exhausted from all the mental and physical stress going on in my life.

But moving forward I KNOW that I can complete it again because I've already done it once.

I've also had a meet up with my trainer from my gym and after getting all my latest stats, I've put on 1lb since last time but have lost fat and gained muscle so it has actually, in the end, all worked in my favour and my composition has improved.

I've enjoyed a week or two break from exercise, only doing dog walking and some easy stuff in the gym but now my trainer has given me a new program to follow which involves so many squats, burpees, press ups and oblique crunches that I'm hoping it will boost my metabolism into burning more fat.

In a few weeks I will write an update on my progress with the new program, and how it feels getting back to classes now that my new job will allow me to make it there much more easily. I'm hoping the decreased stress levels and ease of getting to and from the gym around work will make me much happier!

Do you have a new fitness program to follow? Have you completed any Tough Mudder type courses?

I'd love to read more fitness blogs so if you have any links of your favourites or you write one yourself leave the link in the comments below!


L xxx

Fitness Friday: New Training Program

Hey there! Happy Friday afternoon!

I've been anjoying posting a lot more fitness related posts every Friday afternoon in between my usual fashion, beauty and life posts. If you've enjoyed any of them in particular and want to see more of them let me know. So far I've reviewed some products such as coconut oil and protein pancakes; shared my latest training programs; listed some of my favourite motivational blogs and fitness gurus and lastly showed you some of the recipes I've been loving lately.

Today's post is dedicated to my latest training program. I've been working hard the last few months without much in the way of change in the scales. So I've changed my routine around a bit and have started to lose some fat! I was so pleased i cannot wait to continue and lose a few more pounds of it.

My latest weigh in showed that I'd lost 4lbs which I was happy with but 1lb was of muscle which is not the way to go. Nevertheless I'm trying to stay positive, eat lots of protein, consume more protein shakes as I have slacked off on them for a bit and keep working out.

So my new program! It's very similar to the last which I absolutely loved. The last one was a full body workout with moves that incorporated multiple muscle groups at a time and it was great. This one is similar in that way. It's full of supersets where I have box step ups, squats and lunges all with heavy weights followed by the rowing machine. I repeat this circuit 4 times before getting on the cross trainer for 10 minutes for some active recovery.

After this I then use the chest press and superset it with tricep extensions, followed by the low row superset with bicep curls. This is then followed by a further 10 minutes on the cross trainer before my core work. This involves the pilates 100 and then 5 roll downs which I repeat twice.


I've only done this a few times so far as its so new to me but I really enjoyed the feeling that I could increase my weights so much from what my trainer had written down. She'd been far too lenient with me and was laughing that I'd increased them so much on what she thought. 

It's such a great feeling to know that I've improved so much on what I used to be able to do. I just wish that my running was going as well as the strength is!

I read something the other day which has stuck with me so I'll leave you with it too:

'Don't concentrate on your weight going down; concentrate on your weights going up'

L xxx

Countdown to 'Class of 2012' (1)

For the past few weeks M has been completing the Bloggers Unite to Lose Weight Challenge on a Thursday so I've decided the start my own thing related to fitness on a Thursday as well.

This post is quite long so I hope you're sitting comfortably, it is worth it if you want to lose weight though!

I joined an expensive gym at the beginning of the year determined to lose weight, tone up and generally get fit. I've done a few posts related to my Gym Rat status i.e. working my ass off in the gym like a slave and attending a variety of classes.

I've really been enjoying it, and although I'm 10 times healthier and fitter than I was before, I still feel like it's not enough!

I've managed to lose 10lbs through a healthy diet and exercise since February which isn't a lot over 8 months, but I wasn't overweight to begin with, just carrying a few more pounds than I'd like.

With both me and M being taller than your average female (I'm 5ft 9, she's 5ft 10) we both find it hard to compare ourselves to others weights when everyone else is normally a lot shorter than us and therefore weighs a lot less.

So we've had to come to terms with the fact that we'll never be 9 stone, because we'd be underweight and probably look silly!

Because of this I rarely weigh myself as I don't want to get too obsessed by it, it will probably never say the number I'd associate with being 'skinny' and therefore I don't look at it much.

Luckily for me as part of my membership I can have 6 week fitness programs tailored to my needs.

I took advantage of this at the beginning of the year but haven't since as I was just enjoying going to classes and doing my own thing.

So I went for my fitness assessment on Saturday and she compared my results to my February ones and confirmed that I had indeed lost 10lbs.

I'd also reduced my fat levels and a number of other things all in the right direction - woohoo!

However, half of the weight I'd lost was muscle and not fat, which as I haven't been doing crazy amounts of weight training means that I haven't been eating enough protein.

This is bad firstly as it meant I hadn't lost as much fat as first thought, but also you never want to lose muscle.

Muscle burns calories whilst you sit there and do nothing, which means the more you have, the more calories you burn whilst doing nothing and the more fat you lose.

Image from PredatorNutrition.com

The other bad thing was that my water weight was reeeeeeeeeally low and should be huge amounts higher, and means I'm not drinking enough water.

This was a big shock to me as I drink water and tea only, with the occasional cocktail/hot chocolate/diet coke thrown in at social events (which happens once/twice a week!)

So basically even though in my opinion I live off chicken and water, I am eating/drinking nowhere near enough of either!

Image from DestinationRipped.com

She went on to explain that the easiest way to make sure you're eating enough protein is to use an app such as 'my fitness pal' which most people are already familiar with and take note of how much protein you are getting each day.

The level on mine is set to 60g of protein per day.

To calculate how much protein you need depending on your weight, use the calculations below:

• To maintain your current muscle mass you need to eat a minimum of your weight in kg, multiplied by 1.2.

So 60kg person needs 72g of protein a day.

• If you're lightly active and wish to keep your muscle tone you need to multiply your weight by 1.5.

So 60kg person needs 90g of protein a day

• Lastly, if you'd really like to increase your muscle mass (like I will be doing!) you need to multiply using 1.7.

So a 60kg person then needs 102g per day.

This is a rough guide that my trainer told me to use which I thought was pretty helpful, all of which work out higher than the 60g stated by the app.

She knows exactly what she's doing being a fitness instructor and having studied nutritional management so I'll be sticking to this for a few weeks/months to see how it goes.

She personally has been trying to put on muscle mass and has been living off protein for ages and hasn't 'bulked up' so if you're worried about getting muscly like a man I wouldn't worry!

Another way you can keep track of this is by looking at the pie chart of your day's food:

 

You can see that the general shape is that of a peace sign, with fat being the smallest segment on the right, and protein and carbs being more equal and this is what it should be like to maintain/increase your muscle mass.

I've already made huge changes to my diet:

1) I've swapped my caffeinated tea for herbal teas aside from 1/2 a day as I really do need one in the morning!

2) I drink so much water I really don't believe it, and the funny thing is the more I drink the more I need!

3) And you wouldn't believe the amount of protein I've been eating.

The day that I had my personal trainer session this was what I ate:

So much meat/fish/eggs!

The thing was though that even after all of that, I was still under my calorie allowance for the day without having added my PT session in aside from the cycling and I was so full.

Definitely worth trying.

I was thinking of putting up my gym program so that you can see the kind of fat burning exercises that I'll be doing so look out for that next week.

I always find an aim helps so I will be writing these posts over the next 8 weeks as it's when my graduation will be.

It's not like I want to lose a load of weight for it, but I'd like to tone up and look the bee's knees when I strut across that stage FINALLY completing my education.

It's been a long hard slog and I deserve my moment of glory!

What do you think about protein? Do you find it hard to eat a lot of it?

Did you find it interesting to learn about the protein levels etc?

L xxx