Busy week, great week and I am really happy!

Had my 12 week challenge measurements done, late because apparently I am easy to forget about cause my trainer forgot he had not done mine.

Anyway mid way is tracking ok, can only continue to be consistent and I shall see the result I want for the end of the challenge. Coincidently is the day before I am booked to have my tear and bone hole in my patella fixed.

Trial finished at alternative gym, was good to see what other gyms do and to cement the knowledge that I love the program I am doing, which is a combo of strength and cardio and I don't want to give it up, even though I know it will take time to return to the team  after surgery, I know I want to keep doing the kind of training that I am currently doing if I can.  6 training sessions was to much this week I feel buggered, really really stuffed.

Thanks to all the positive chick from Envie and Berwick, you were warm and welcoming and lovely.

Will update in 6 weeks but until then think I will be a bit quiet for now.

Enjoy your weekend.

I have come to realise I love functional training above all else even boxing this has become my favourite.My choice this morning was 45 mins of tabata at the gym I have a 5 day trial at  or upper body with the genfit crew. I chose genfit because I love the way we train, I love the group of people and what we do.

I enjoyed the class yesterday was lovely to meet new people, I enjoyed being  in a different kind of  group setting. It was just the idea of doing another almost all cardio workout,  actually did not thrill me, anywhere near like  it used to.  I thought about all I am trying to achieve and what that class would do to help me reach my goals and I knew another cardio session was not what I needed or wanted. I know I have become one of those people who is happy to do as little cardio as possible! I love my 30 minutes once a week and the occasional extra box if I get to go, but doing cardio every day like I used to YUCK. ( sorry)

Was pleased with my workout today, even though my shoulder is a bit stuffed, from stupidly  trying to demo a 5kg lateral raise last Thursday, I know I don't do over head movements but didn't think lateral raise when I have a labral tendon tear is probably the worst thing to do  :( now I have pain, pain pain.

 I reached my best bench press weight again today, it was the same as last week  no progressive overload but no regression either which is ok, not huge for someone my size I know but seeing  as I do have that shoulder issue I am happy with my  65kg x 4 reps, managed  to do 24kg kettle bell high pull with no issue  but my shoulder could not hold the bar to deadlift, kept on falling forward so that was only going to be a light  50kg but it was ok I did something and I can hopefully get my tendon pushed out of the way and it will be back in place by next week!

What a difference a week makes, I cannot believe I felt so good last week,  my shoulder was the best it's been for ages now from one stupid move,  it's backwards so frustrating! At least I will have a broad understanding of how easily injuries can be affected in training....

I noticed a bit of a regression in my acceptance of compliments today, when a lady said to me she noticed my middle was looking slimmer the past few weeks, I literally wanted to melt into the ground. I don't like to think that  I am noticed in the gym. It helps me to believe  no one sees me, I really don't like  it when people give me compliments especially when it's in regards to the part of my body I hate the most.  If she has taken notice of the fact it's changed then she clearly noticed when it wasn't changed. It  makes me feel uncomfortable  that people would pin point part of you, which is why I usually avoid wearing clothing that is firmer in any way.

Morning all hope you are enjoying this fine weather we are experiencing today sunshine whoop whoop!

So for the past week and definitely since Thursday I have tried to stick to a low carb ( ketogenic) diet, initially I was pleased with how I felt generally I didn't seem to be craving fruit, oats or the occasional wrap or chocolate.
Unfortunately  I did however experience, a complete lack of energy, I was  trying to get through my missed leg workout Saturday afternoon, I made it to about 20 mins and I had to give up. At the time I  put it down to being at school all day before hand and having a slight tickle in the throat that I may be getting sick. I didn't stop to think that I had restricted my carbs to such low levels my body wasn't functioning well.

Yesterday I was at work, then at church and really didn't do anything terribly strenuous so thought I was alright. Then  this morning I went to try out a new gym ( we've been told to try out a range of different styled training places as part of our course, most have free trials and so this week I am) who knows I may take out another membership or it may just be for gaining knowledge on where I might like to try and find work when I am done, yes I am starting to think about working in the industry with specific demographics. I STILL LOVE MY GYM , TRAINING BUDDIES AND TRAINER THOUGH :-)

 Anyway I felt flat, a bit shakey and not myself before the boxing class started. Then within 10 minutes I was completely fatigued, I could feel my heart working so hard and my oxygen levels just were not what I needed. I am starting to understand why I have been sweating so much lately during training, as well as gasping for breath. Obviously with the lack of oxygenated blood in my body currently ( anaemic) something I have never experienced before and  the intensity I am trying to train at is just not achievable without some acute responses. Add to that my lack of carb intake over the last week blah blah blah is how I felt. Tired, shakey exhausted !I do not know how anyone can maintain a state of ketosis and function during intense exercise program because I clearly cannot? Even my thought process was changed my response time to questions my kids were asking last night was vague.

Respect your body, listen to it and it will reward you with functioning the way it's supposed to. Deprive it to long and clearly you will pay :-)

Time for some sweet potato and meat I think :-) hahaha

So a couple of things have happened this week, had a blood test on Tuesday just to check my blood work due to being 40 now, cholesterol was excellent  yeah eating a high protein diet with lots of saturated fats like coconut oil is bad for your heart! My fasting  bsl was good  I was expecting to find out I was pre diabetic, thyroid, vitamin b12,  vitamin D could be better but the surprising thing is I am quite anaemic even though I consume red meat at least 3-4 times a week so the Dr has told me to eat red meat every day, take an iron supplement and go on the pill ( undecided about that one ) to try and bring my iron level up. Totally explains my fatigue with training and afterwards lately, I thought I was getting really breathless and struggling to push to the end  with our cardio sessions. I thought it was simply  because I was super unfit  now,   I know that is not why which  makes me feel a bit happier :)

Yesterday I took Ethan and myself to see a naturopath who thinks I could benefit from a ketogenic diet, given my insulin sensitivity which is inherited he believes which I have passed onto Ethan this type of diet will benefit me he feels.

So lots to think about and investigate but thought I would share it here.

Going to start with the positives loving learning about the body and fitness as part of my course,  am loving my training team and the program we are doing, the improvements I have made in strength and determination to push myself. Super happy with finding the right amount of training session  to rest that works for me, happy with my progress for the challenge so far,  just not loving my in ability to only  eat foods I know are  part of the plan for me to reach my goals for the year.

Back to the basics board and stopping trying to manipulate the plan to suit my wants and not my needs nutritionally. My weakness this week was relying on pre packaged protein bars and home made protein balls to get me through  when I was out and about and I know that's bad but I did it, so this week I will make no protein balls and keep the  protein bars out of site.

Looking forward to surgery not looking forward to the backwards step with my training though.

I have read a few motivation quotes that say something like " people are so busy counting calories, when they should be more concerned with  counting chemicals."

I partly agree with this, conversely it annoys me. I can see  yes we should have a diet that is as close to nature or as un refined, free of artificial chemicals etc that we can, I do not disagree with counting calories. Sorry I have found it is essential  to keep myself  accountable to my daily macros etc. 

Keeping track of the calories I am consuming/eating is not wrong, I have found it's been the only way that seems to work for me. For over a year  I have been mostly un successful with the concept that eating  "clean" is all that matters. For me quantity does matter there are times when my eating is on point 100%  and at other times not so strict and giving into my old life style choices. 

For the past few weeks I have been tracking my food in myfitnesspal and I am feeling a lot more in control and confident with what I hope to achieve this year, starting with being leaner, lighter and fitter by the time I book my next lot of knee surgery, not for any other reason than allowing my recovery to be as good as it can be.  

Each day I will be as kind to myself as I can, allowing adequate recovery time, exercise, food and loving myself through it all. 

I am worth it and so are you!

Today's workout was so much fun and I surprised  myself with what I could push my body to do, thought I would not make it through today's  continuous circuit but I did :) for a strength day there sure was a lot of sweat.....

Now to surprise myself with what I can do for the rest of the day if I remain focused and organised for the rest of the day~~

Week 4 of the challenge and it's feeling like time to kick it up a bit and see what I can do!

So we are almost at the end of the third week of the 12 week challenge and so far I am feeling ok with how it's all going. I don't think there has been a huge change but what has changed is noticeable to me and I am happy with that. Could I do better ? I am  sure I could refine my food choices  a bit, I know that I've been focused on not giving in to craving or binges and so far I am reasonably happy.

Binging. what I mean by that word is probably different to someone else's definition. It's been a bad habit of mine for as long as I can remember, I am sure I've probably mentioned it on here before. Has it changed since I started to get my life on track? Yes it has, can it still be an issue yes it is,  but I am taking control of it one episode at a time.

Binging is never really about food, it's usually always a trigger un related to food that I chose to cope with by shoving all of the emotion down with whatever I can get my hands on. When I feel anxious and stressed it is likely to happen, when I was depressed definitely would happen, now it happens but not as often as it used to.

I view my exercise when I first joined the gym a bit like my binging, I would do way more than my body needed or could handle because it helped keep the feelings away. Did I overtrain, maybe not for some people but for me definitely my body was worn and damaged from the years it carried so much extra weight, was the exercise I was doing good? yes but some was not.

On average before I started 1/1 pt with Sean last Feb I would train for maybe 6 days and 2 times a day  for maybe 3 of those days. Even when doing 1/1 pt I was still doing a lot of extra stuff I really didn't need to be doing. Then genfit started and I am barely able to cope with those 3 sessions and maybe 1 more so from being in the gym probably 8-10 hrs a week I am there maybe 2 at the max now exercising.

Looking forward to fitX this weekend and seeing some of my fitness idols hopefully irl :)

Have a great long weekend...

Ok so I haven't been to the gym to  exercise in almost a week, mainly because my hips have felt terrible and then today I am working. Really not much has improved in a week except there is more pain on my right now and not so much on the left. I keep being asked why I am limping I don't realise I am but obviously my hips are throwing everything out. I know I need to spend a decent amount of time on the foam roller but it just is so painful at the moment I can't bear it for more than a couple of minutes.

Week 3 of the 12 week challenge, feeling like deja vu starting the challenge and having my body throw an injury hissy fit. It hurts to walk let alone try and do any leg work, that is frustrating me and I know my body is needing respect but come on seriously.

Loving learning about the body and fitness related information, really hoping to get into fitX this weekend and see what is in there.