Eat. Sleep. Cry.

So it has not been a great start to the year, with a death in the family (my beautiful grandmother), the last thing on my mind was whether that chicken drumstick will go straight to my thighs. Recent events have definitely affected my fitness and health. I didn't gain huge amounts of weight but I have significantly reduced exercise and physical activity for the past month. Thinking of adopting some of my late grandmothers lifestyle preferences into my own 'fitness regime'. She was a formidable woman; back in her day she didnt need exercise because when she was my age she was an active woman; tending to 6 children, a farm of animals, a field and orchard of plants, trees and vegetables and her frequent travelling with my grandfather. They didn't eat the 'processed' crap that we consume and is readily available in supermarkets these days; everything they ate was fresh and nothing went to waste. So 2 things of what she used to do and I plan to include in my goal to losing the flab;

1) Reducing processed food and try to consume more fresh food/ingredients instead. (realistically
    I don't think I could eliminate processed packaged goods; ie herbs are from bottles, we cant grow certain
    herbs here!)
2) Make exercise part of my daily routine. Ie taking the stairs, parking miles away and then walking.

Hey Nenek I miss you and yes I will live healthily and try to make the right choices. Even if I fail once in awhile; it wont be the end of the world. R.I.P my dear grandmother.

Whats with all the spots?

My body has been completely screwed by the past weekends event. No I did not spend the weekend binge drinking and eating bon bons on the sofa. I spent Thursday and Saturday looking after my grandmother in the hospital which meant no sleep throughout the night till the early morning and then hitting the sack mid-morning only to skip my meals and eat at odd hours. My body has gone haywire because of it, I feel like a hormonal teenager would with spots coming up all over! I stayed up for almost 48 hours Sat-Sun as I was trying to adjust my body clock for the week ahead, it worked but am feeling rather lethargic now! Am dashing off to run more errands, I think I can hear that 3rd cup of caffeine is screaming my name.  

good to know!

tip

whopper

Naughty me! Haven't been eating regularly & grabbing the quickest and easiest option. Today; Option 1 was Roti & Curry and Option 2 was a sinful whopper from Burger King; I went with Option 2. With my body clock out of whack (didn't sleep at all last night, having spent the night in the hospital looking after my grandmother!) I started today with a handful of grapes and 1/2 a dragonfruit. Went to bed at about 1130am and got up at 630pm. Drove to the hospital to pick my mum up and couldn't be bothered to cook so stopped off to grab a burger king take out. Despite eating within my calorie limits, its still not the healthiest way to go about my meals! I need to have a fully stocked fridge, I cannot be making these excuses! ... Saying that though: I really enjoyed that burger and the coke--for that moment in time I was in fast food heaven. *sigh*

Top 10

Found this article through pinterest. Makes perfect sense! :

My Top 10 Lessons I Learned About Fat Loss in 2011.

Lesson 1. Set a Deadline

There is power in setting a deadline. Have you ever said you are going to do something and never get around to it? You’re not alone. Have you been given a deadline to do something, say by your boss? Of course you hit the deadline because there is a time restraint. Set a date on the calendar for you to be your absolute best by.

Goals:

• need to be put in writing
• have to be specific and measurable
• have to have a specific timeline
• and need to be realistic

Lesson 2. What Gets Measured, Gets Managed

If you follow Vince Del Monte, you have heard this many times and it is extremely true. You cannot know what direction you are heading towards if you don’t measure and track your results. This is the only sure way you can tweak your program to work for you. Whenever a client asks me what could be going wrong, I simply ask them to take out their tracker so we can look. 99% of times, they haven’t been measuring and the other 1% I fix with a couple of simple and easy tweaks.

Lesson 3. Replace One Habit at a TIme

Habits cannot be broken, only replaced. If you start by replacing one habit per month, that will be 12 new habits you will have replaced by 2013. Think of one you want to replace for January.

Lesson 4. Tell Someone Your Weight Loss Goals

Having an accountability partner works in EVERY area of your life. You are more likely not to fail if you tell someone what you are going to achieve. You will not only be letting yourself down if you quit but also your friend.

Lesson 5. Eating Too Little Will Make You Fat

I start to waste away in my upper body and start packing on the weight in my tummy whenever I choose to skip meals and don’t eat enough.

When nutrient intake is low your metabolic rate will become low for three reasons:

• decreased thyroid function
• reduced thermic effect of eating
• reduction in muscle mass

Lesson 6. HIIT Is The Fastest Way To Lose Fat

High-intensity training burns calories for hours after the workout, improves endurance and improves aerobic capacity. I always add in some HIIT to my week and this is the one and usually the ONLY area (in the gym) that I tweak when I want to lose fat fast. All you need is a few 20 minutes sessions and your pants size will shrink in no-time.

Lesson 7.  Keep Your Heart Rate High

There is no sense in taking your time during your workout. There is no sense in training one muscle at one time unless you are thinking of becoming a light-weigh bodybuilder. This is the key that COMPLETELY shaped my body this year. Before this my body changed at a much slower rate and working out wasn’t as fun!

Lesson 8. Have A Plan of Attack

Plan out your workouts BEFORE you workout. Don’t be stuck there trying to think of what exercise combos to do and then draw a blank because you think everyone is looking at you and wondering what you are doing. I used to do this all the time. I thought everyone knew I didn’t know what I was doing and then I would draw a blank and just hit the treadmill…so much for fat loss!

Lesson 9. Eat Protein and Fats for Breakfast

Thank goodness for Ben Pakulski who taught me this simple fact. After telling him I seem to crash mid-afternoon, he told me to try ground beef and eggs for breakfast. I know that sounds gross but it works and it’s actually tasty. Charles Poliquin calls it “The Meat and Nut Breakfast”. This is all about controlling your hormones. Give your kids “the meat and nut breakfast” and see their marks increase.

click here to hear more from Ben 

Lesson 10. Eat Carbohydrates After Your Workout ONLY

Thanks to John Berardi’s nutrition certification I learned that carbohydrates should be used only to refuel and repair after a workout. This is the biggest contributor to staying lean all year-long. As my husband Vince would say, “What portion of your body is made up of carbohydrates? NONE – therefore we can only use a small amount of them before the body will store them”.

And that’s all folks.

Apply those 10 lessons and you are on your way to your best body in 2012! Those were my strategies to transforming my body and the same strategies to staying lean all year-long!

Original Article here !

14 hour days

Extremely long day: 14 hours driving people to doctors and medical professionals, sorting work out and attending meetings. I skipped breakfast and lunch! So I had only one meal today which is not ideal and is probably why I am seriously flagging now and in desperate need of my bed! Its going to be a crazy day tomorrow, will be driving out of town to recce a location and will be heading back to donate blood. Hoping for a not so crazy day tomorrow.   


Mood: Exhausted! Been running around since early this morning and only just got back!

Physical: Back is a bit sore! 

Weight: 83.1kg

Target Weight: 66kg

Exercise: Stair climbing, driving and walking.

Motivational Snippet for the day: