Has been a while since I posted properly!  I have been doing pretty well on the challenge so far, there are still a lot of things I can do to make my nutrition perfect, as well as perfectly timed for metabolic efficiency.  But hey - I haven’t had a single cheat meal, i’ve been sticking to 6 meals a day, drinking plenty of water, and working out twice a day.

Yesterday I made up a heap of meals for the freezer, and cut up snack portions of fruit and veggies and added nuts and seeds.  My gorgeous trainer Bec looked through my food diary and gave me lots of great tips, so now i’ve changed my yoghurt to full fat Jalna brand, am no longer eating fruit as a meal by itself without adding protein i.e. nuts, and when I have some more money next week i’ll be buying coconut oil to cook with instead of using a vegetable or olive oil.

I found when I started my healthier eating I coped really well until week 4, then struggled, and then really slowly have gotten to the point again where I now feel full and satisfied with my food.  I’m recording my calories roughly, and am maintaining around 1100-1300 calories per day, and my exercise is burning around 1200 calories per day.

I’m struggling with asthma at the moment with intense cardio.  I get a very very tight and sore chest, while the rest of my body could physically keep going for ages.  It’s really annoying.  Tonight me and my partner and the puppy ran up and down the hill near my house 5 times.  The 5th time I said to my partner that I had to walk it, but he encouraged me to push myself, so I gritted my teeth and sprinted to the top of the hill!  I can’t remember the last time I ran that fast, and it was going uphill!  My chest felt like it was going to explode afterwards but I was ultra proud of myself, because Micky couldn’t keep up! :D

I feel like i’m doing a good job of varying my exercise so I stay interested in it and i’m really loving it at the moment.  I’ve discovered that I love Body Pump, Body Combat and Pilates classes the most, with the occasional cardio/dance, yoga or abs class thrown into the mix, as well as my normal cardio & weights sessions.  Tomorrow for the FTC group session we’re headed to the 1000 steps, which i’m a bit nervous about, but Micky’s coming with me so i’ll have him for moral support!!  Wish me luck!

I don’t weigh in until next Tuesday so I have no real idea of my progress, but i’ll update again when I know my results!  Fingers crossed!!

Forgot to mention that I have been using the My Fitness Pal app for the last week or so and it is fantastic!!  I can record all my calories, as well as my calories burnt off, and see my overall deficit!

So far, they have been respectively 939, 838, 555, 552, 654, 898, and 1164!!  Pretty good if I say so myself :)  According to the app, i’ll weigh in at around 86kg in 5 weeks if I continue this pattern of nutrition and exercise :)  Sounds awesome to me!!

I have also been using the Nike+ GPS app to record all my walks and jogs, so I can keep track of how many kms i’m doing and calories i’m burning, and try to outrun/walk my best time.  So far up to 13.61km but forgot to use it at the gym twice so should be more like 17 or 18km!  All the free fitness apps out there are fantastic!

I think i’ve finally hit my plateau… I just feel totally ick and really exhausted.  I haven’t had the best week.  I’ve still kept up with my workouts, but was disappointed that I had to miss my second Pilates class of the week tonight because I had an upset tummy.

I bought heaps of great, healthy foods and started my new diet today, and failed as soon as I begun!  The reason being that it revolves heavily around egg whites, and I can’t stand eggs.  I literally choked on every single bite, and was struggling to keep it down.  I felt really sick for the rest of the day.

I had my third PT session this morning which went great however, she told me that if I hate them then yoghurt and berries is just as good!  She said the meal plan sounds very much like a body builders diet - and I had gotten it off bodybuilding.com!  Lol.  So i’m back to my normal eating, with the only changes being i’m to have 5 small meals a day, protein rich and heaps of veggies and fruit.  Carbs are okay but I have to try and eat them straight after a workout so that they burn off fast.  And I need to do more weights at a higher intensity!  So I feel a lot more relaxed about that :)

I weighed myself this morning, I think all I will lose this week is 1 kilo, if i’m lucky!  But, it’s probably a good thing to plateau before the Transformation Challenge begins so I can lose more while the challenge is on!

I need to work on getting my motivation back, so that is my goal for the next couple of days :)

Another week down - in fact, 4 weeks down! - and another 2kg lost!  This brings my total up to 12kg and 36cm lost overall.  Pretty happy with that, if I do say so myself!

96kg still feels huge and uncomfortable (obviously).  At times it can be hard to be excited about my weight loss when i’m still not at a weight that i’m happy with.  Stupid way to think!  At the rate i’m going, i’ll be there or close to before I know it.  That’s what I need to keep reminding myself of.  So I need to keep DOING.  I need to increase my maximum, push myself harder.

I have decided to enter the Transformation Challenge that my gym is running.  It is a 12 week program, and whoever makes the most dramatic transformation takes the prize of $5000.  And I want to win it!  In 12 weeks I should be able to lose anywhere from 15-20kg.  And that would be a HUGE transformation!

So what I need to do to win the competition is this:

• Amp up my workouts.  Double the intensity and chop it up more.
• Eat less carbs but more protein.
• Eat wayyy more fruit and veggies.
• Drink more water!
• Without counting every calorie, keep a closer rein on my daily intake and exercise deficit.
• Keep a more detailed food and exercise diary including my rough calories and deficit.
• Reduce the amount of time I sit on the couch by 2 hours a day.  For those 2 hours I have to be moving - whether it be cleaning & tidying, jogging on the spot, playing with Hudson, doing pelvic floor and core strengthening exercises, etc.
• Find a bloody job so I can afford my PT sessions and healthier food!

Now watch me do it!!

P.S. Monthly photo update to come :)