A surprise result in the weekly weigh in

It’s been another pretty poor week for me in terms of will power. After I reached the one stone milestone, I’ve definitely struggled to keep motivated. I’ve kept up eating the same breakfast, lunches and dinners but there have been several treats creeping into my mouth in between.  I’m not overly worried because I’m at a weight that I am happy with for the time being and my main focus is on trying to get stronger for Tough Mudder, which is now only 3 weeks away.

This week I had to take advantage of the few windows of opportunity I had to exercise. Sadly for me taking the opportunity to go for a run came at the expense of having a nap or lie in so I think I deserve a bit of credit for that. I went for a beautiful run in the sunshine round a local lake while my Mum was playing with the kids in the park and I took part in my first ‘park run’ on Saturday, which is a timed 5k. I came 446th out of 676 and finished it in 32 minutes. I can see how beating your time might become addictive but I’m not sure the 9am start time will see me there on a regular basis!

Bridesmaid Bootcamp was back on again with a 2 mile run followed by burpees, lunges, squats and all kinds of challenging moves aimed at making you not be able to breath! I actually enjoy these sessions way more than I expected – everything is made better when you do it in the sunshine with your mates.

As I mentioned, I was doing pretty badly on the food front at the start of the week then I saw Rosemary Connolly (an 80’s exercise and nutrition Guru) on Loose Women talking about her new book. She reckoned that if you eat normally for 5 days then had 2 days of only 800 calories, you could lose weight. So I thought I’d put this to the test this weekend to save my bacon! I ate light meals and did most of my exercise this weekend and it looks like it worked as I have managed to lose 3lb.  I think this is technically called cheating though as my efforts should not be geared towards weigh in day but I couldn’t face the embarrassment of another maintenance or weight gain week!

In other news, I have just discovered overnight oats – yum! I’m still trying to perfect the recipe and will share when I have.  If you follow me on facebook, you will have seen that my good friend ran the London Marathon yesterday having begun her fitness journey after having twins nearly three years ago. I managed to have a chat with her about how she went from short walks with the buggy to being a marathon runner so look out for her guest blog post coming soon.

This is my 24th blog entry. To follow my journey from the beginning, please click here. You can also follow and like my facebook page for all the latest updates.

Weekly weigh in: let’s call it maintenance week

Here we are at weigh in day again. The weeks seem to be flying by at the moment. Before I even stepped on the scales, I knew I hadn’t lost anything this week and was pretty sure I’d stayed the same – I was right.  I’ve been really good on the exercise front but I’ve had a week where I’ve eaten what I’ve fancied and the result is equilibrium. This is the way I generally live my life, exercising to balance out or justify the treats.

I’m not feeling too down about it about it because there have been some significant wins:

1. I feel much stronger in my core having completed two weeks of the ‘no more mummy tummy challenge.’
2. My jeans are definitely looser AND I have had to order a size smaller in several items I’ve bought recently. I’m too scared to say I’ve dropped a dress size completely but it’s certainly looking like I need a 12 more often than a 14.
3. I did two workouts involving burpees and mountain climbers and I didn’t pass out!

I wish I’d done some measurements around my waist etc so I could use that as an indicator but I only have a metal tape measure, which doesn’t bend!

Training has started in earnest for Tough Mudder and my legs, abs and butt know about it today. Thanks to Mr Motivator (the other bridesmaid’s husband), we were put through out paces in yesterday’s glorious sunshine. By 10am, we we out there lunging, crab walking (looks fun but isn’t) and squatting our way towards being slightly more prepared for our tough mudder challenge in just over a month. I was surprised how well I managed some of the exercises, I was expecting to have to adapt them more for my postnatal / weak self. The only one I totally failed at was a full push up. It was a gruelling workout made much more fun by doing it with the girls and having Mr Motivator bellowing “I say Bingo, you say Wings” at us!

On the food front, I have been trying to eat from the food plan provided as part of the NMMTC, which involves lots of protein and limited sugar and carbs. I’ve found having eggs for breakfast a real benefit as they keep you feeling full until lunchtime. Sweet potato for lunch was also great for feeling fuller for longer. I’ve found it difficult to switch from eating low fat foods to full fat as I have got so used to the taste of lower fat versions. I think the theory is that foods sold as low fat are often loaded with other “bad” ingredients such as sugar so it’s actually better to eat them in their purest form.  I must admit there have been several cheats this week: baking with my toddler was a bad idea as I ended up eating a couple (ok, four) biscuits, I went to cinema and had a homemade goody bag full of popcorn and chocolates (and a token handful of blueberries to make me feel better about feeding all the bad stuff to my toddler and me), and the weather was so lovely yesterday that I simply couldn’t resist a Mr Whippy!

I’ve got a few more treats planned over Easter weekend so need to try and be good for the next few days but I sense another ‘maintenance’ week could be on the cards!

This is my 22nd blog entry. To follow my journey from the beginning, please click here. You can also follow and like my facebook page for all the latest updates.