Monthly Challenge – Squats

The Fit Fab Forty Monthly Challenge group tackled Push-ups for March. This was the aim of the game courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

I find push-ups hard especially on my toes but the only way to get better is to practice. At the beginning of this challenge I could barely do 10 on my toes and my depth of push-up was very very poor, more like a pulse than a push-up.

I have attempted to stick to the Challenge as best I could, I was a bit intimidated to do Decline push-ups at the gym so occasionally I would do another set of Toe Push-ups instead. I missed a day here and there, but I think something is better than nothing, life does get in the way, sometimes I would double up another day but other times I would just accept that it didn’t get done and move on. I can now consistently do 3x 10 toe push-ups still not as deep as I would like but I am definitely getting better with the last 2 days to go I can’t wait to see how many I can do when I push myself to fatigue on the last day.

I have also continued with my planking from the February Challenge and so at the end of every workout I would try to do 3x 1 minute planks which is about 4 times a week.

The April Challenge starts tomorrow and this month is Squats, I found this 1 on Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans a great blog so go on over and have a read of some of their other posts.

Don't be April fooled by this saying May it is definitely our April Challenge.

Don’t be April fooled by this saying May it is definitely our April Challenge.

If you would like to join the group for daily inspiration comment on Facebook and I will add you to the group.

Meal Planning – Week 3

Here is the wrap up of week 3 of my 36 Day Challenge.

This week of the Challenge the motto was “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”.  My 2 personal goals were to make good choices when ordering out and to continue to eat 5-6 meals a day.  So again I did a meal plan for my dinners:

Mon – Beef stroganoff
Tue – Beef Pie with garlic peas
Wed – Chicken and bean enchiladas (Actual meal – went out for Mexican, I had 1 Fajita but then I made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu, hubby and I shared Churros)
Thur – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – deli style salad)
Fri – Take away Thai (Actual meal – 2 steamed dumplings, Indonesian style Sate BBQ chicken, garlic and ginger seafood, small portions of each)
Sat – Catered Meal (Actual meal – Beef Massaman curry plus green beans– meal was served with rice and bread and I didn’t have any.)
Sun – Herb Crusted Lamb (Actual meal – platter with ham, rice crackers, hummus, carrot sticks – too tired to cook).

I was away from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon at a Scrapbooking Retreat and my previous self-imposed reputation as queen of the junk food had to be squashed. Normally I would do a shop run for copious amounts of chocolate, chips and soft drink. This time I did a shop run for little tins of salmon, portions of ham and some cream cheese and prepared the night before by making hummus and protein balls.  My weaknesses tend to hit when I’m tired and on these type of weekends we stay up late, so by Saturday I am constantly tired.

Saturday afternoon 12 out of the 30 women got up from their seats and went and did a 1 hour workout session that I had organised from the girls at EnVie Fitness. Definitely felt great after that, but as I got tired into Saturday evening I buckled and had 5 small Maltester chocolates, 2 kiddie size packs of Smith’s Chips and 2 pieces of Coconut slice (evening snack provided by the venue). I felt bad about all of those choices but the deed had been done so as morning came I just had to move on and get back on track. All other meals were provided by the venue and I opted at most meals to avoid high carb options such as wraps, bread rolls and toast and keep a good eye on my portions.

Some of the evidence of what was my little chocolate binge.

Some of the evidence of what was my little chocolate binge.

Overall this week I had no Alcohol, no sugary drinks at all, it was water all the way. My few slip ups of Churros and Saturday nights little binge were disappointing but I must move on.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 75% on track and exercise 100% all 4 sessions planned were done plus the Fit Fab Forty monthly challenge of push-ups were mostly done.

My planning and some shopping has been done for Week 4 and some food is already made and portioned. I will leave you with these wise words from the EnVie Challenge booklet:

“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly”

Meal Planning – Week 2

So here we are wrapping up week 2 of my 36 Day Challenge. The first week of the Challenge focused on nutrition with the aim to eat 5-6 good meals per day, this week was focusing on exercise but not forgetting about nutrition.

So again I did a meal plan and my friends and Facebook followers were keen for me to post some dinner ideas again. So this week I will give you a rundown on my meal plan plus 1 of my favourite lunch options and a few great snack ideas.

So the meal plan looked like this:
Mon – Balsamic Steak with cannellini mash (Actual meal – yep I did it I ate what I planned)
Tue – BBQ chicken burgers (Actual meal – yep did it again)
Wed – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – 3 days in a row boom)
Thur – Beef Pie with garlic peas (Actual meal – leftover lasagne, why cook when you can reheat)
Fri – Homemade Pizza (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza chicken and pesto pizza)
Sat – Healthy Take-away (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza again)
Sun – Beef Strog (won’t be having this tonight as we are going out so will have to make good choices).

Some snack ideas I have run with this week were homemade hommus and carrot sticks, peanut butter flourless muffins and my “always have in my handbag” option of mixed nuts (properly weighed portions of all of these pre-made).

My favourite fast and easy lunch this week, smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket wrap. Delicious.

My favourite fast and easy lunch this week, smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket wrap. Delicious.

So again I was pretty happy with my food choices and what I put in my mouth all week, except Friday night Pizza was accompanied by homemade margaritas. I am pleased that even though I have scheduled it in, there has been no take-away for dinners.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 80% on track (damn those margaritas) and exercise 120% all 4 sessions planned were done plus an extra session (as punishment for margaritas) and the Fit Fab Forty monthly push-up challenge is continuing.

Planning is about to commence for Week 3 but needless to say there are lots of good options stocked up in the freezer and fruit and veg shopping has been done.

I will leave you with these wise words from the EnVie Challenge booklet:

“There are so many tomorrows….. DO IT NOW”

PS: I’m a little bit scared for tomorrow’s half way Weigh and Measure I never like the scales.

Meal Planning – this is new to me

So last Monday I started a 36 Day Challenge with my gym EnVie, encompassing nutrition and exercise. It teaches you what to eat and when to eat it and most important key to success is meal planning.

I have meal planned before but not for a loooong time. My normal routine would be to open the fridge see my ingredients, if nothing popped into my head I would hit up Google and usually find something tasty to make. I may plan 1 day in advance to put something in the Slow cooker the morning before work but that’s about it. I must say hubby is no help in the dinner department, when I ask what he feels like the usual responses are “I don’t know” or “what do you feel like”. And let’s not go there when I ask Miss 4, her responses range from “Old McDonalds” to a “Restaurant”, we don’t eat out that much so I don’t know where that comes from. I am often cooking 2 meals or variations to suit everyone including myself so this week I was attempting to limit the different meals and plan ahead.

So the meal plan looked like this:
Sun – Lamb Rissoles with sweet potato chips (Actual Meal – Lamb rissoles with flatbread, tzaziki and rocket)
Mon – Beef stroganoff with cauliflower puree (Actual Meal – Beef and vegetable lasagne)
Tue – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – beef and vegetable Lasagne)
Wed – Chicken Rosemary hotpot (Actual meal – chicken Rosemary hotpot)
Thur – Chicken enchiladas (Actual meal – Lamb cutlets with parmesan herb crust)
Fri – Homemade Pizza (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza chicken and pesto pizza)
Sat – Thai take-away making better choices (Actual meal – Homemade chicken tenders)

I don't often like a full length photo but I felt really good in this outfit and received lots of compliments.

I don’t often like a full length photo but I felt really good in this outfit and received lots of compliments.

So all in all fairly close to the plan and everything except Sat’s dinner out of the 36 Day Challenge Recipe List. Saturday I was allowing myself a non-judgemental day with food and alcohol as I went to the races for a friend’s birthday. In saying that I was better behaved than normal in both departments and opted to come home after the races instead of kicking on with the girls and actually got up to do an 8am Sunday training session.

Variations were minimal for Miss 4, she had mince and homemade corn chips out of flatbread instead of lasagne, her chicken was not in the hotpot and her lamb was not herb crusted.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 80% on track and exercise 100% all 4 sessions planned were done, plus the Fit Fab Forty monthly push-up challenge was about 90% done on the right day.

Planning and shopping list all done for Week 2 so I will leave you with these wise words

“PROPER PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE”

Eating Disorder – I’m not Fat

Eating disorders can come in many forms, anorexia, bulemia, binge eating and many many more. I look back at my history and believe I have a form of eating disorder, I thought it could have been a Reverse Anorexia but that is a known muscle dysmorphia, definitely not what I have.

My (unnamed) problem over the years was more about looking in the mirror and turning on an angle and sucking myself in putting on nice clothes, applying make-up and saying to myself “you are not fat, you look good”.

There is nothing wrong with being happy with how you look but I should have looked a bit closer. I like many other women enjoyed shopping and but I would struggle with finding clothes that fit and looked nice, but I would eventually find them and feel good wearing them. And each time I bought the next size up I would blame the factories for inconsistent sizing. I often got compliments like “you dress really nice for a big girl”. I was also a keen shopper for “gut sucking” granny nickers, shorts and camisole’s and I wore them all the time (and still do).

Reality would hit when I saw a photo of myself from an unflattering angle and then I would almost blame the person who took the photo.

It seems a lot of other people were blamed for my issues.

Don’t get me wrong I knew I was Plus Size and I knew the weight was creeping on (read about it here), I was obviously enjoying life too much and wasn’t ready for change. It wasn’t until I was due to get married that I thought I didn’t want to be a fat bride and embarked on my own NFB (No Fat Bride) campaign with my personal trainer. Whilst I lost a little bit of weight, I could have lost more before the big day and it is a regret I will have to live with.

In recent years the weight loss programs that have sparked my interest are those that promote “Lifestyle Changes” and my motto has been to make better choices every day.

When the next 36 day challenge came up at my gym EnVie Fitness Woonona, I jumped at the chance to get involved. I am in the best headspace that I can remember so I am on a mission. I have learned a lot this week about weight-loss using food and exercise to my advantage so it is time to put that knowledge into practice. The official start date is Monday 10th March but I am not waiting lifestyle changes begin now.

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If anyone is doing The 36 Day Challenge at EnVie Fitness Woonona if you post anything about the challenge on Facebook or Instagram use the hashtag #enviewoonona36daychallenge if you are making any other lifestyle changes use #everydaybetterchoices or use both. I look forward to reading up on how everyone else is going.

It’s not too late to sign up and join in.

Monthly Challenge – February the dreaded PLANK

I have created a Facebook group as a spin-off to my Fit Fab Forty Facebook page. The aim of the group is for members to inspire and motivate each other and to keep their fitness momentum going. Within the group I have decided to do monthly challenges, members can decide if they want to participate or not. Now monthly challenges are nothing new to blogs and I am not going to take “the cred” for designing each challenge. The world-wide-web is full of fitness challenges that someone (probably way more knowledgeable than me) has created so if I know who the creator was I will absolutely give them credit and link to their page.

The month of February was a Plank challenge that went something like this:

Day 1 – 20 seconds
Day 2 – 20 seconds
Day 3 – 30 seconds
Day 4 – 30 seconds
Day 5 – 40 seconds
Day 6 – REST
Day 7 – 45 seconds
Day 8 – 45 seconds
Day 9 – 60 seconds
Day 10 – 60 seconds
Day 11 – 60 seconds
Day 12 – 90 seconds
Day 13 – REST
Day 14 – 90 seconds
Day 15 – 90 seconds
Day 16 – 120 seconds
Day 17 – 120 seconds
Day 18 – 150 seconds
Day 19 – REST
Day 20 – 150 seconds
Day 21 – 150 seconds
Day 22 – 180 seconds
Day 23 – 180 seconds
Day 24 – 210 seconds
Day 25 – 210 seconds
Day 26 – REST
Day 27 – 240 seconds
Day 28 – PLANK FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!

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At the beginning of the month I was sceptical as to whether I would be able to complete it. I will admit I didn’t follow it exactly, I always planked at the end of a workout, so as long as I worked out that day I got my planking done. So at the beginning of the month my planking record was 30 seconds on my toes, throughout the month I was planking during a gym class and apparently my form on my toes was not good so I was advised to drop to my knees and get my form better. So this is what I did. As disappointed as I was to be a “pussy” planking on my knees it is better to have good form and not do yourself an injury. If I was unable to go the distance on any given day I would do sets of planks and not finish until my total planking time was at least what the daily time limit was. So yesterday I completed it (better late than never) and my final set of planks were still on my knees – 81 sec, 53 sec, 65 sec = 199 seconds. So from where I was at the beginning of the month I would say massive improvements.

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Here are some of the comments from the Group about the Plank Challenge:

“I’m thinking of doing it again next month. I like what it is doing to the body.” Kelly

“I was yelling at the stop watch tonight lol” Nicole

 

So this month (March) is a push-up Challenge if you would like to join the group contact me on my Facebook page and I will add you.

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Definition of the different push-ups in the challenge:

Almost-There Push Up – Arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind, core engaged and pulled in, utilizing knees

Push Up – The Classic Push Up – Arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind to feet, core engaged and pulled in

Incline Push Up – Hands on elevated platform, arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind to feet, core engaged and pulled in

Decline Push Up – Arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind to feet, core engaged and pulled in, feet on elevated platform

The Push-up Challenge was brought to you by www.heandsheeatclean.com so go on over and check out all the other awesome challenges and info they have on their site.

I am going to continue the planking and add the push-up challenge to my repertoire.

Go hard on those Push-Ups and I would love to hear via comments if  you are playing along.