Days 40, 41, 42 and 43

Dear Blog-spot, All I wanted to say, the whole weekend long, was: write this past 7days off! I was just as unhealthy the weekend as I was during the week! Although, I really tried my best over the weekend...we were at a music festival and rather than having hamburgers and pizza's, I ate lean biltong the whole time! And as my drink I had a light in alcohol wine, which I still mixed with soda water as well! Plus I tried walking and dancing the whole day!! Today it's back to being clean with the eating! I went for a 10km run this morning. Had future life shake for breakfast, with a small banana. Had a green apple for my morning snack. Lunch was a yummy home made chillie wrap, which I filled with Chicken, tomato, hummus and little bit of feta. Yum-yum!! My afternoon snack now will be an orange. And before and after our club's hill session tonight, I'll have half a glass of orange juice mixed with a serving of protien powder. I'm super busy tonight and won't have time for dinner, and will just sip on a meal replacement shake! I weighed in this morning... Suprisingly my measuremens are all down, apart from the scale, which is up with just over a kilogram... :-) But I'm gonna have to move my butt to compensate for last week's junk! Only 4weeks and 5days left to the challenge! I gotta WORK it!!

Day 39...almost on 40!! And so far, so good-concerning my gobbling spree... Last night my hubby felt like having pasta and we had that for dinner, plus I gobbled a bit more beforehand... But then I got sent my 6week progress photo's and I compared them with pics I took of myself (in my undies), about 18months ago... And man! Did that motivate me!!! So now I have a bit more vision! I want to get rid of this little roll that plagues my profile! And then demolish some body fat so that these 85sit-ups which I'm doing almost daily can show some muscle!!! I exercised my legs last night at the gym (weight-training). This morning I slept in. Had a meal replacement shake for breakfast. A teaspoon of peanut butter and an orange for my morning snack. Left over pasta for lunch. And I'm sticking it out another half an hour before my afternoon snack, which'll be half of my banana/protien shake. We're gonna do a challenging track session tonight at the club. And I'll have the other half of my shake right after it. Then the chicken's already cooked. And I'll just add some salad to it for dinner.

Day 38

Day 38 and almost had it made on the clean eating front... We had tuna pie and salad for dinner last night. This morning we went for our 10km jog. I had my banana and protien mix before and after. For breakfast, about an hour after running I had brown bread toast with home-made hummus on-yum!! I was so thirsty that I had half my slim pack drink at 8am. Morning snack was a juicy orange! Lunch was 3 cracker breads with hummus on and a huge green salad. And then I had a white roll with meat and mayonaise on for my 4pm snack.... :-) Gonna go do some chest weight-training and have chicken and salad for dinner... Only 3days left in this week... If I want to see any change still, now's the time to move it clean! (Famous last words?)

Eeek! It's day 37 and I'm in a BAD lul!! I can't dat right! I GOTTA pull my socks up!! On the bright side - there are now no more sweets left in my handbag :-) ... So, last night went super well with the cross country club run and I ended in 3rd place! But then my stomach started cramping from all the days sweets and I was loo-bound for some time afterwards! He-he! And of course I wasn't hungry so I slipped dinner. This morning I went for a 10km jog with my running partner. I had half a smoothie before and one right after the run (banana, water and 2 protien powder servings). It left my so full that I skipped breakfast, which lead me to the nougat in my handbag just after 8am. :-) I enjoyed my orange as my mid morning snack. Plus my home-made hummus on brown bread with some lettuce. Yum! But then I had a huge frozen yogur ice cream with fudge on top! So... I've had 8 glasses of water today: phew! That's one good tick on my check list... And I'll have half of my banana-protien smoothie just before the 45min spinning class and the other half, just after. And then chicken and salad for dinner. But Yikes! I gotta get out of this drought I'm in!!

Day 36

I'm still stunned that the days are going so fast! I'm also proud of myself for sticking too it this long! While Carien Theron, whom I'm following on facebook, is finishing her 12weeks at Wednesday, it just motivates me te get my still flabby bum into gear and know that this challenge is going to be over in a blink of an eye! So I'm motivated (partially pumped full of sugar and MSG), but either way I'm gonna make it and end on a high!! Last night at 8.50pm, hubby and I got the munchies. And we had for dinner some chips and chocolate with a movie. :-) And after I had toast with peanut butter and a green tea for my great start this morning, I decided on a total pig out day and had so many sweets between 12 and 2pm today, that I'm a bit ashamed to mention just how much! The nougat remains in my handbag because I can't fit it into my stomach!! I still can't decide whether to drink the half banana blended with one serving protien powder and water before and after our cross country running session today. I mean I've got enough energy to last me 2weeks of no cheating...but do I give up the protien powder also? Nah... I'm gonna leave it for tomorrow... Tonight's gonna be the all wonderful chicken for dinner and some salad. Preceded by a 4km cross country hard run!!!

Day 33, 34 and 35 - end of week 6

I just cannot believe that today is actually the start of week 7!!! I'm a bit angry that 6 weeks has gone by and the difference I've made is so small!! On a positive note: this week that went by I started pulling up my socks - I'd set 2 goals and reached both of them, proving that it can be done and even so much more! I wanted to drop a whole kilograme plus a whole percentage of body fat, and I did! I know weigh 55.7kg's (from last week's 56.8kg) and last week (on the scale I'm measuring on), my body fat was 17% and today I'm on 16%! I know in actual fact it's around 20-23%, but I'm sticking to taking the measurements on one machine so that I can at least know how much points I've lost in total. From now on I want to loose at least half a kg per week and 1% fat per week. I want to weigh 53kg's and have around 18% body fat, when this challenge is over! Food and exercise-wise: Friday I took a rest day. I had a meal replacement shake for breakfast. A few nuts for snack. Didn't have time for lunch and quickly popped a banana. Then later had a bag of Lean biltong. And as I drove to my friend for the night's sleep-over, I had half a slim pack drink. Dinner (braai) was so late! And I had chicken breast, salad and half a sammie. And a cup-cake. :-) Saturday morning I had some left over chicken breast and a banana for breakfast. I'm still going without milk in my coffee and pumped a few of those at the kiddy party, but gave in towards a piece of cake and 2 finger pies... As I drove home I had the rest of my slim pack drink. I quickly went to do some weekly shopping,buying 100% protien powder at a health shop. And USN's Glutamine for recovery as I'm going to start incorparating weight-training from now on! At home I had a teaspoon of almond nut butter and some saw broccoli. I took the recommended Glutamine before and after my workout. I went for a 10km jog. And straight onto the gym. I did 75 sit ups on the ball (and died with every crunch!). And then a trainer voluntarily took me on for some leg weight training. Ish!! He killed my legs! So much se that they started shaking as I finished them off! But that was time well spent! On the way back home I had a protien, caramel essence and water mix... Yuck! I GOT to learn how to incorparate that protien powder in some other way!!! Dinner was half a tuna pie. Breakfast got skipped (rugby world cup final). And so om snack just now was the other half of that tuna pie. Now it's me and the water-can! Lunch will be chicken pasta. Dinner will be chicken salad. And I'll pop into the gym somewhere to do some arm-weight training: glutamine before and after plus protien powder mix. I'm gonna try and make half a banana soothie with it!

Day 32

Although today hasn't started off with the motivation that inhibits me since after my wallowing from yesterday, I'm still determined to make a huge success out of this week and also the forthcoming 6 weeks!!! I'm going to work harder and also prove that being healthy and toning my body does not have to cost a fortune! Yesterday I started downing green tea and also did some light weights in the gym's circuit. I had chicken salad for dinner. Breakfast was unfortunately 2 chocolates. Followed by green tea. My stomach is doing much better now. My late morning snack will be small banana. Lunch is chicken salad. Afternoon snack will be chicken and spinach. I'll go for this evening's track session: 14 x 400m's. Followed by half portion diet fuel... I still have to think of a way (cheaper than Whey) to take after exercise... Dinner's gonna be Thai noodles. And I'm gonna push the water / green tea intake to be at 10 cups per day! We're gonna get in shape baby!!!

Day 31 - Failed

I failed myself today... I'm gonna get up, but for now I'm wallowing down here... I just gobbled up 2 rolls with cream cheese on them. Yup, I tried to eat my frustration away. Oh, and my wallowing just got an end-time... I thought I was gonna skip tonight's light cardio class at the gym, when my friend just replied to my WAY earlier message, saying that she'll definately join me for that class... I'll probably thank her later. But right now I'm still feeling the pits! Plus I'm shaking like a leaf from all that I've devoured...it could also be the double espresso shot I through down my throught, in hope to somehow magically eat away at the carbs, msg and fat my gut is dealing with now... Ps. i'm having a bad day. Last night I realised that I've been on this challenge and next week we're arriving at the half way mark. In the first 3weeks I was rather chuffed with myself since my new insight was life changing - that eating healthy and towards muscle recovery actually brings the weight and body fat down PLUS there isn't that lack of energy for exercise and life which comes with your traditional weight-loss diet! I also grew stronger in my running and can really feel the differance in my muscles. But it's almost half way, and I can't feel the difference in my clothes... My jeans are as tight as ever... And then I looked back at my progress. In the last 5 weeks I've only lost 2.5kg's and 2% body fat. So before I got depressed about it, I decided to rather just find out what to do differently and pull up my socks! (After all, I've got the energy!) A bit of digging and it seems that the answer lies in the fact that I'm not doing any weight training - only cardio. Now I've been pushing up my protien in-take for the last 2weeks. And my tummy's become hard because of that. So I need a pro-biotik. My vit.C just ran out - I need more. I started with heavier ab-exercises on Monday and am still so stiff that I struggle to get into my car. And now I want to start with weight training and therefor I need Glutamine. For faster fat burn I also need to drop the diet fuel and start with pure Whey protien. My feet and fingers are swollen (it's that time of the month) and I would like to buy a water retention pill. Now I can spend all this money, but then I'll have to dig into my December holiday savings, which I want to use for a new wardrobe then, when we'll be going to the Filipene islands...where I'll show off all my hard work in my lowered body fat-body! Catch 22! Depressed!!!

Last night I had chicken stir fry for dinner. This morning I went for an easy 40min cardio at the gym, where I drank my slim pack during the work out (ps. My legs are still very tired from Saturday's race combined with last night's spinning class). I had 5table spoons of pronutro mixed with water to make a shake and added a small-small banana, for breakfast. My morning snack was 2 crackers with almond nut butter on. Lunch was a huge green salad with some low fat cottage cheese in it. My afternoon snack was 2 white rolls with half a tub of flavoured cream cheese :-( I'm off to the gym for an easy 60min cardio work out, followed by 20min's of light weights. And dinner will be chicken fillet and vedge.

Day 30 usn challenge

Day 30
Today was great. I even feel so strong that I'm wondering what it is that I ate wrong, because I didn't get hungry or tired today. Plus I ran 10km's before work and did a 45min spinning class after work! I hope this feeling lasts! I had a tea spoon of peanut butter before my run. I was rushing for an early appointment, so I made a slim pack drink to drink on my way to work (since there wasn't time for breakfast that early). At the office I had a full portion diet fuel shake (previously referred to as protien shake). My morning snack was 5 crackers and cottage cheese. Lunch was a chicken sandwich with avo on. Afternoon snack was a small banana. And dinner was chicken-vedge stir fry. And I just had a sugar free coco drink. But I'm gonna up my game. There's only 6 and a half weeks left and I'm setting my weight-loss goal at 53kg's! I'm gonna re-think my eating plan to get there... I'm gonna DO this!! Off to bed...

Today I'm hopeful again!! I'm down on the scale to 56.8kg's and went to the gym at 5am for the first time in ages! Anyway. I did 15min's of cross trainer-fitness flyer and alternated it with 3 sets of 15 reps of different ab exercises - i did this for an hour. See www.bodybuilding.com/fun/abs-in-15-min-day.html For breakfast I had a protien shake blended in a small banana and a teaspoon of peanut butter... Yum!! Morning snack was a hand ful of nuts. Lunch was a green salad with some brie and feta in. Afternoon snack was a green apple. And dinner was a chicken burger on half a roll with brie, avo and fresh basil. Do try it!!

Day 27 and 28

I'm feeling a bit tired of the challenge today... I had a great day yesterday - ran a nice time of 1h49min40 at Ceres. But we ate such a late dinner again last night. This always gets me super down... I passed on the milk tart offer and went to bed a small bit earlier. And rather than rewarding my great choices with some milk in my coffee this morning, I still opted for a black morning coffee. So things are actually well... Friday when I went for my annual cholestrol test, it was great to hear that it dropped from 6.2 to 4!! I'm disappointed that my legs are a bit stiff from yesterday...but then again, it was a pretty tuff hilly race. I want te grab some breakfast and lays around in front of the tv today, but I don't think this is going to be possible...we're still in Ceres and will have to wait till all wakes up and then probably make a greasy breakfast... I'll opt for toast and an egg. Lunch will most likely be left over braaivleis from last night and a salad. And dinner at home will perhaps be a chicken salad. No exercise today nr tomorrow. Yesterday I had Future life cereal as a shake for breakfast. After the race I had a whole protien shake. Late afternoon I made a chicken salad sandwich for lunch. And of corse chicken braaivleis and salad for dinner. I also drank 2 white wine spritzers and a small bit of peanuts and lean biltong during the rugby yesterday. I gotta get my head focused and amped for week 5...

Day 26

Good, but not so successful... I went for my annual cholestrol test and from 6.2 last year, it's come down to 4!! I was so happy that I bought myself lean biltong...started on that. And then furthered my "breakfast" onto honey weetbix with milk. And ended off with half a sausage roll... No exercise today, as I'm resting for tomorrow's race. I also ate an apple for my afternoon snack. And will be having pasta for dinner...

Day 25

The past week has been tuff! When I've been exercising hard, my work has been so monotonous that I find myself feeling tired and counting the minutes till the work day is over with. And on the easier training days, I've found myself itching with too much energy after work. And this frustrates me EVEN more than the tiredness! And so I indulged into the world of sugar!! For dinner last night I had a small packet of biscuits, a small packet of crisps, a chocolate and 6 pieces of sushi... I'm more bummed that I don't have a solution for this irritated itchy feeling, than I am about the set-back of all that junk in my body!! But moving forward... I had 2 boiled egg whites and a huge piece of cucumber for breakfast. An apple for AM snack. Chicken salad for lunch (loads of leafy greens and about 50g of chicken breast). My afternoon snack will be half a protien shake. And just before and during our track session this this afternoon, I'll have a few sips of the slim pack drink. I'm not exactly sure how tonight will go, but we'l do a couple of 400m's, 800m's and 300m's -sprint. I'll take another half protien shake right after the run. And then chicken and vedge for dinner.

Day 23 and 24

My work during the day is a bit montanous and I find myself wishing the work day was over faster. I hate this because life is just to precious to wish away-so even at the office I'm gonna step it up a notch so that I'll af able to enjoy it more! But yesterday was tuff! I could not keep my eyes open! I think it's also to do with the fact that I've ran hard everyday since Sunday... Yesterday we did another 10km before work. And I went for a nice 45min. spinning class after work. My energy levels picked up, but I felt quite stiff from Monday's hill session with the club: 18 x 60m hill sprints up and jog down. Resting 3mins after the first set of 9. Yesterday I ate: teaspoon of peanut butter before AM run. Half a protien shake after run. Future life cereal shake for breakfast.mixed with water. (I'm loving it's texture and all of the prebiotics and boosting elements in it!!) An apple for AM snack. Chicken and raw spinach sandwich for lunch. 4PM snacked on half a future life portion shake-mixed with water. And during the spinning class I drank half a slim pack drink for energy. After that I drank half a protien shake. And dinner was unfortunately prepared too late and not too healthy: chicken pasta with milky sauce only at 8PM last night! On Monday night we had Chicken and steamed vedge! Yum! Today I had again another teaspoon peanut butter before AM 10km jog. And a full portion protien shake right after for breakfast and recovery. I'll have an apple for my AM snack. Chicken and cucumber sandwich for lunch. And 3 provitas with cottage cheese for PM snack. Dinner will be chicken and vedge.

Day 20, 21 and 22 Usn challenge

I had an 80% clean eating weekend and 100% for my dreadful Monday - the only plus... Friday night I just HAD to have popcorn and smarties at the movies, but the real killer was the McD's chicken wrap afterwards!! I wasn't even hungry! So I'll look out for such stupidity next time! No exercise on Saturday, but I cleaned my house, which for sure burned plenty of calories! And I ate very clean, except for the evening when I had three starters of a small pizza! Eeeck! The other no-no was the cocktail that went with it. I'm gonna have to learn to drink white wine spritzers from now on! Sunday was race day and it went extremely well! Woke up at 4am. And by 5am I had had a sports shake for breakfast. I ran a 10km in 47.52min's! And felt great afterwards! Immediately beter the run I drank half a protien shake for recovery. And on the drive home, about 2hours after the race, I had a slim pack drink for more energy. Today I only did our athletic club's hill session 18 x 60m hill. I felt the previous day's race in my legs,but again felt strong still - I had a sports shake for breakfast, an apple for am snack. A huge home-made chicken salad for lunch. Half a sports shake for pm snack, on my way to training. And half a protien shake after training. Chicken and steamed vedge for dinner and off to bed! I'm pooped! And there's some hard and early training in the morning! Ps. At our weigh-in I'm at 57.6kg's and 0.8% down on my body dat percentage!

Day 19 - The time really does fly! I feel like so much time has already passed and I haven't worked hard enough to make the days count... It's almost the end of week 3 and although I feel much healthier and when running, I feel so much stronger! I can't find any visible differences in my body :-( So I really feel that I have te step it up a notch! Suprisingly, when I did my 30 sit-ups today, I struggled with the last 10, which in turn made me feel great about last night's speed session with the club: 8 x 600m's. And I do recall using my abdoman muscles to get me to the finish line, especially on the last 3! It was tuff, but again the excitement was pumping as I felt my legs and muscles working - feeling so much stronger than before! And it's in part because of my changed eating program this week-I've been eating more and more protien. I had om slim pack cool drink on the way to the track for energy and my half a shake directly beter the session for recovery. So, Sunday is weigh-in and we'll see what all that eating did to my overall weight. And I'll adjust if needed accordingly. All in all, i'm pleased with this week so far! Dinner was a bit late (our dinner plans with friends got cancelled), so we braai'ed Steak and made a mean salad! Breakfast was strawberries and paw-paw. Snack was an apple. Lunch was huge salad with ver little of the steal from last night. And i'm feeling quite hungry now, but will wait a short while longer for my next snack: half a shake. And dinner I'm hoping to opt for only a salad! Resting today from exercise. But maybe I'll try and drag hubby out for a very short jog!

Yesterday I felt like a million bucks, because I've exercised really hard so far and ate completely clean!! But we went for a braai at friends last night and we ate only after 11pm! I got in bed at 1am! And when my alarm went off at 5am I felt like a train had gone over me!! Our athletics coach has been telling me that I train to hard and when om husband suggested that I cancell this morning's run because of the same reason, I did just that... And it had put me in an awful mood! That plus the late night last night... So yesterday I ate toast with almond nut butter-yum! I had one slice for breakfast beter our 10km run. An apple for my 10am snack. A chicken and raw spinach sandwich for lunch. Half a protien shake for 4pm snack. And then chicken, vedge and salad late last night. This morning I had pronutro with skim milk for breakfast. Apple for my snack. Same sandwich for lunch and will also do my half a shake for another snack. Plus I'll sip on my slim pack berry drink mix during our speed work session with the club tonight. And then it's my friend's birthday party tonight - i hope there's salad on the restaurant menu! And i'll drink a white wine spritzer... I think that from now on, on days that I don't run in the mornings, i'm only going to have half a sandwich for lunch. Because I'm still stuffed from today's!! Ps. I started with 30 sit ups during the day, on Monday. I skipped Tuesday and still have to do today's...

Day 16 and it's Tuesday afternoon... We weighed-in today (should've done it on Sunday already, but I'm glad we didn't). I'm 1.5kg's lighter and 0.3% less body fat - weighing 57.9kg and with 18.6% body fat. The loss is the only positive thing... It's that time of the afternoon where I'm tired and nothing else really matters... Although I'm excited and nervous in the back of my head to go do a fast 8km Time Trial with the club tonight!! I can't wait to see how I'll do! I'm eating more this week for energy and it feels like it's paying off... I forgot my breakfast this morning, so I took half a shake instead (it was the only extra I had on me). Snack was a yummy green apple. Lunch-so awesome! I had a brown bread sandwich with chicken breast and lettuce and mustard, on. It was sooo good!!! Snack will be half a shake mixed with water. And I took a Cla capsule after breakfast and lunch.

Day 13, 14 and 15

I'm a bit demotivated, because everyday of the weekend I cheated on something. Plus I didn't have any more energy to go gym it off... :-( So this week I'm going to start eating more, so that I'll have more energy in general. Rather than all that fruit, I've had corn flakes with milk for breakfast beter my 10k run. I've had a quarter of tuna pie for 10am snack. I'll have the rest of it for lunch. And a naartjie for 4pm snack. My husband is doing dinner tonight, but since he made a awesome salad for dinner last night, I'm hopefull for tonight's dinner!! Right now though, I'm just walking past all the blueberry muffins and koeksisters, in the kitchen - open for all to help themselves... And made a yummy cup of joe with half a sweetner in it! Stuff u muffins! I'm gonna loose my belly flab and cellulite!!