Week 10 - Thursday

Today has been good. Have been in Melbourne all day.  Still managed to get in an hour of cardio today on the cross trainer. Was super sore today after my weight training yesterday but have been loving being sore!

Food:
- Strawberries, banana, fructose free museli bar
- Omelette
- Apple and mandarine
- White tea with xylitol
- Kanagaroo sausages and vegies
- White tea with xylitol
- Low cal choc and coconut dessert

Food was fine today. Tried to fit in some extra protein than usual.

Week 10 - Tues and Wed

Tuesday

Well yesterday was a struggle. Maybe it was fructose withdrawal, but I was exhasted and the workout was a real struggle. Mindset was awful. Wanted to quit my workout. But I got on with it and did 30 min run and 30 mins cross trainer.

Food:
- watermelon, banana, apple
- cup of tea, milk and xylitol
- omelette
- rice cakes with peanut butter
- roast chicken and roast vegies
- strawberries with cream and rice syrup
- cup of tea, milk and xylitol

Probably went over in calories today, had a birthday dinner, so did my best to be healthy. Did not eat any cake :)

Wednesday

Today was fabulous. I had so much energy! 10km run with ease, then did an hour and a half of weight training with my partner. Was great fun! Had the best day. Am still off fructose.

Food:
- apple, banana, cashews
- cup of tea, milk and xylitol
- omelette
- rice cake with peanut butter
- kangaroo sausages with steamed vegies
- strawberries and glucose powder
- cup of tea, milk and xylitol

Really enjoyed today! Looved the weight training! :)

Week 10 - Monday

Things are going great for me. I have been doing a lot of reading into my sugar cravings. I found a fantastic book which I read over the weekend called "Sweet Poison" fabulous book if you have a sweet tooth and want to lose it.

Anyway, I am off fructose, other than in whole fruits. Whole fruits are fine because of the high fibre, water, nutrients and enzyme content. Have been off it completely today, was nearly completely off it yesterday too. Already feeling way more in control. Looking foward to the craving free journey :)

Meal Plan:
- Porridge with blueberries and banana
- Museli bar (fructose free)
- Watermelon
- Chicken salad
- Pear and strawberries
- Lamb, goats cheese, avacado salad
- Cup of tea, milk, brown rice syrup

Exercise:
- 45 mins step class, 15 mins cross trainer, 15 mins bike

Week 9 - Sunday

Haven't posted for the last few days. This week has been insane with uni. Luckily next week will be better :) Way less stressful.

I will be posting each day now! I have still been getting to gym everyday and been making healthy choices for eating. So I still believe that I can get to my 51kg goal in three weeks. I am super excited about training this week with more time on my hands too.

Food diary:
- porridge with banana
- apple
- chicken, pear and feta salad
- cup of tea with milk and rapadura
- chicken, avacado, roasted onion salad
- cup of tea with milk and rapadura


Workout:
- 8 km run
- 30 mins on cross trainer

Well within my limits today :)

Special note to Nici! I am super proud of you! This week has been amazing for you! You are well on track and all the positive habits are setting in! Congratulations! I cannot wait to read all about your physical progress to a lean ripped body! :)

Week 9 - Tuesday - Thursday

Weigh in: 52.7
Goal weight: 51

Weighed in this morning at 52.7. I ate quite well yesterday (not perfect), and did an hours hard cardio. But am still down. Quite interesting to see the fluctuation in weight even just after a day. By weighing in every day I think I will be seeing my weight go up and down :)

Rest of the week

Has been a long week. Busy with uni, and travelling, which means that I have been eating a bit of take away food. It has not been perfect, but I have been conscious of my take-away decisions e.g. sushi and salads. But am still not sure how many calories I have been eating. This is not a common schedule for me.

Anyway, it is my busy day tomorrow, then I am on the proper no take away bandwagon.  Also, I have still been doing my workouts. Over an hour of cardio each day, that is something. I don't think that I am putting on weight which is a plus.

Will weigh in Saturday morning and then every day there after. As well as my food diary. Three weeks should still be long enough to get to my goal weight. :)

Week 9

Okay, so I weighed in this morning for the first time in weeks. I am 53.1kg. Have put on some weight. But as a plus have still lost 1kg.  My goal was 50kgs by the end of the 12 weeks. I would be happy with 51kg. Leaving me 2.1kg to lose in 4 weeks.

To keep myself accountable I have decided to weigh in each day. Otherwise I have this mindset that I can make it up on the days before weigh in. 

In terms of the weekend. Friday eating was not great. However, I ate well on Saturday and Sunday, no slippery slope.  I am still struggling with sweet cravings but I will continue on.

Exercise. I did my normal hour of cardio each day. Fri 40 min run and 20 mins cross trainer. Sat 60 min run (11kms). Sun 60 min cross trainer.

Anyway, 500 grams per week is my goal. I will be posting my daily weights in. :)

Week 8 - Thursday

Today has not been great. Back to my Sunday mindset. So ridiculous to think that my mindset can change so much in a day. Silly silly eating.

Pretty much, the dealio is that I have to re-write a huge piece of my work from uni. Today I have felt extremely overwhelmed and have been a bit of an emo. So of course, as predicted my eating went way downhill. At gym I got on the treddie and was ready to quit after 5 mins. However, I sucked it up and stuck to it until I had run 7kms. Then spent 25mins on the cross trainer. Was a mentally hard workout today.

My whole mindset today was that I cant cope with failure on this program and failure at uni.  Neither of which are true or even possible. Btw, I am an over-achiever at uni, have always done very well, so logically I know this attitude is incorrect. Plus, I work out everyday, so clearly not failure there. But I am consistently disappointing myself on the food front.

Todays mindset was that there is no way I can lose the rest of the weight in the last four weeks, especially when uni is so hard at the moment. The only way it would be possible would be to be in control of my diet. Something that I have never been good at. At the moment I do not have the time to do more than an hours exercise a day. 

Anyway, I hope that I can stay strong and get back on top of things tomorrow. I don't want to start the slippery slope for the weekend. I have a birthday dinner tomorrow night (pizza). So I have decided to stay at home until after tea and do some extra study. And have tea at home, no pizza for me :)  Other than that I have prepared a whole heap of cooked vegies and cut up raw vegies which are in the fridge for me to snack on. No more carb treats. Hopefully the weekend goes well with food and study :)

Eating today (who knows how many calories):
- muesli and strawberries
- cup of tea
- watermelon
- roasted vegies
- 2 superfood orb balls
- cup of tea
- 2 pieces of toast with banana and honey, and jam and cheese (clearly healthful choices for dinner)
- cup of tea

Looking forward to a more controlled day tomorrow. Sorry Nici.

Week 8 - Wednesday

Today has been okay.

Got up and went to gym. 1 hour of cardio, run and cross trainer.

Food:
- porridge
- tea
- banana
- Lunch out: frittata and salad.
- apple
- chicken and roasted vegies.
- tea
- dates and saltanas

- I am sure I have gone over calories today. I don't know how many I had at lunch. I must be better and really good tomorrow as my weigh in is on Friday.

- Good luck with dinner tonight Nici! You will be fine! ;)

Week 8 - Tuesday

Woke up feeling great after yesterday. Clean eating just feels so much better. Going to try and have another simple eating day. Fruit, vege, tea and some protien is the plan. Hopefully when I get on the scales tomorrow morning I am still at the 51.8 mark and haven't gained. 

Either way, things have changed significantly in the last week and a bit. I am definitely more conscious and present with my eating, so things are getting there.

Have a BBQ tonight at a friends house, plan on taking salmon and my own salad (they always end up just having potato, pasta and colslaw salad from the supermarket, not good).

Plan on keeping it clean for weigh in tomorrow.

Food for DAY:
- watermelon
- cup of tea
- vegies
- strawberries
- cup of tea
- lamb shanks and vegies
- small choc cake
Exercise Plan:
- 1.25 hours of cardio

Tonight I went out for tea, and I didn't order chips! Yay! p.s. I looove chips and I always get them when going out for tea. Instead I ordered extra vegies :)

I did however, eat a small choc cake, but I am okay with this as I saved calories for it :) Happy with the day. Am going to weigh in friday. Too many carbs at night tonight.

Hope I am 51.8kg on Friday and not any higher :)

Week 8 - Monday

Today has been going great. Eating has been well on track, been sticking to fruits, vegies and tea. And have really been enjoying it.

Food:
- watermelon
- punnet of strawberries
- cup of tea
- steamed vegies
- cup of tea
- fish, broccoli and cauliflower
- cup of tea

Have yet to have had any cravings. This is good. Am about to go to gym for step class and some cardio. Today is going well and I am feeling great. Didn't actually wake up feeling sick which was great, did feel guilty though.  Looking foward to gaining even more control as the week progresses :)

Also, we had fish and chips for tea at my house, as my partner had friends over. I ordered grilled fish, and cooked up some cauli and broccoli. I did not eat any chips or fried food! Yay! Normally I would sneak a few in, but not this time :)

Forgot to write down exercise. 6km run - 30 mins, cross-trainer - 15 mins, and a step class. :)

Breaking the SUGAR HABIT!

Yes I have had a bit of a blow out (admittedly it was not nearly as bad as it has been in the past), irrespective, I am frustrated with being addicted to sweet food after meals. This is a habit that is well formed and is ingrained in my lifestyle.  I don’t expect this to be particularly easy, but I think that it is time to overcome this addiction.

A few years ago it was chocolate and crap food that had a hold over me. So I swapped it, and moved on to natural healthy sweet food.  Turns out healthy food is just as calorific and addictive as unhealthy and I don’t like this addiction anymore. I will never overcome this unless I attempt to remove this habit from my lifestyle.

So this evening I searched the web! Based on my research these are the tools I am going to employ to stop my habit. Getting over this habit is actually more important to me than weight loss during this process. I think that the last couple of kilo’s will be very easy to lose if I can change this habit.

One other reason that I want to do this and make sure it works, is that I don’t want to have to tell Nici again that I stuffed up. I felt terrible writing it to her. When I was eating I didn’t process that there were consequences. But it felt awful disappointing myself and Nici. So time to take charge!

Steps following an after meal craving:

-          Brush teeth

-          Possibly a cup of tea, then brush teeth

-          No more sweet food at all!

Options following a general craving:

-          Cup of tea

-          Drink water

-          Get my free weights out, and HR monitor out, and start doing squats – then weigh up how much effort it would take in squats at home to work off the food I am thinking about eating

-          THAT IS ALL à Feel the craving and suck it up! Or ride that wave ;)

Steps to support my lifestyle change:

-          Remove sugars (the last of my sugars to remove that is still impacting my dietary habits is the honey – so I will now have no honey, saltanas, dates, dried fruit in my house J) I will only have rapadura sugar (but I rarely eat this, so don’t perceive it as a problem, definitely don't eat sugar by the spoonful) - but have done this with honey on occasion, this is why it is gone!

-          Add protein to each meal

-          Drink more water

-          Use cinnamon as a sweet flavouring

-          Take my multivitamin and fish oil every day (I always forget)

-          Distract myself

-          More sleep – make myself start getting ready for bed by 11pm, I am often up until 1pm or later.

-          Detox – I am going to do a detox day on Monday J

-          Be aware of reasons for eating sugar: emotional eating; boredom eating, intense cravings, happiness

-          Look at my goals. Ask myself if I eat this will I be moving forward or backward?

-          Look at my vision board! J

So I am going to support this by discussing my feelings regarding my cravings on my blog as I am going through them, while I am riding the wave. I would also like to begin writing down the food that I plan on eating the next day, and see how close to it I get. This will help me to stay on track, snack less, remove sugar and drink more water. Tomorrow I plan on doing a bit of a detox, using Gillian McKeith’s book.  Yay!

It will be interesting to track my progress and see how long it takes for the cravings to subside! Hopefully quickly. But I am not delusional, it is always harder when the cravings also have emotional connections.

Overall last week was very good. I felt really in control for the first time in ages. And only one slip up. Maybe this slip up happened for a reason, forcing me to address my issues and habits

But I want to make sure that this is for good and that I can overcome this habit during this program.  I still plan on doing my cheat meal next Saturday, but I have to work hard for it this week to get there J

Thanks Nici again for your support! I won't be slipping up this week :) However, you may be pained by my annoying constant blogs about my cravings!

Week 7 - Saturday Night and Sunday

Last night was lots of fun. I had salmon with green vegies for dinner - delicious! Then we all shared a few different desserts, and I had some and really enjoyed them. I am not sure how many calories I ate, it was a big piece of salmon, so that had a lot of calories in itself. Then I had desserts. However, it was my cheat meal and I I enjoyed them guilt free! and am back on the bandwagon today :)

I also felt great this morning when I woke up, which was fantastic! So last nights meal didn't have too bad of an impact on my body. Have already gone to gym this morning for an hours cardio on the cross trainer. Off to do a shit load of study today :) Fun for me, boring.

Food today:
- watermelon
- museli
- strawberries
- cup of tea
- roast vegie salad
- honey almond homemade treats
- 2 superfood orb balls
- cup of tea with milk and honey
- 2 dates

Have gone over the calorie limit, not sure how much. Am not excited about this since I have been doing really well all weekend. But just to analyse this so I can understand it and avoid it in the future:

I study lots for uni. One of my problem areas is bored eating.  When I am out and about and busy, I forget about food. When I am sitting at home writing up my boring method section of my thesis, all I can think about is food. Not good. Problem. While I did really well all day, by bordem eating coincided with my wanting sweet food after dinner. Today I just thought I would have one thing and leave it at that, but it ended up continuing.

I love the idea of abstaining from sweet food after dinner, but the cravings are somewhat overwhelming. Sad to think that I have such a severe food addiction at 23. 

In an attempt to counteract my over-eating tonight, I am going to go hard at the gym over the next two days. Hopefully weigh-in goes alright. Who knows, I only have myself to blame.

Hey just though of a great idea to attempt to combat my problem - when I am at home and eating - I will log in and write down my feelings before and after I eat.  That will keep me super accountable.

Nici, I am sorry for the stuff up. I hope I can make it up to you this week :)

Week 7 - Saturday

At work, writing my post :)

Gym this morning, was tired again. But managed to get in 50 mins on cross trainer and 10 minutes on the stair machines. Was very happy with this, I JFDI :)

Food:
- 1 hard boiled whole egg and 1 egg white - 95 cals
- porridge with rapadura sugar - 250 cals
- strawberries - 60 cal
- rice crackers - 40 cals

Trying to keep it light before the 30th tonight, as there are limited gluten-free options on the menu. Hopefully they will have a healhty special.  Plan on just having, stawberries, a cup of tea and some other light snack before dinner. Yay keeping on track.

Last night was a bit intense - I had a few things going on, and felt the emotions coming on. However, I was conscious of them, and did not go near food. I am really happy with this, things are changing. :) Yay!

I am looking forward to tonight, I should have a few calories to play with :) It is nice to have a cheat meal and not feel bad about it. I am looking foward to these in the future. I am looking forward to continuously feeling proud about the food choices that I am making :)

Week 7 - Friday

As predicted felt lousy this morning after my late night dinner. However, I am much more energetic today than I was yesterday. And my muscles are nice and sore from my weight training yesterday.

Popped to the gym this morning. Did a 5 minute warm up on the cross trainier, then did a 12.5km run (65 mins). Burning 650 calories. Definitely have to work harder for my calories these days.  But I am happy with this outcome. Food is on track this morning.

Food:
- porridge with banana and honey - 300 cals
- carrot juice - 100 cals
- Chicken, avo, date, carrot, beetroot salad - 300 cals

Food is going well today. Plan on having a light dinner, to make up for yesterday.  Regarding the weekend, I have a 30th birthday dinner out tomorrow night. However, I plan to eat really lightly during the day to make up for it.

Dinner was great - Just a chicken salad and a cup of tea and some strawberries. Delicious and light.
Yay! Perfect eating for once! :)

Week 7 - Thursday

Slept for 10 hours last night. Loooved it! Probably due to my huge workout yesterday. Was tough a gym today, I was so exhausted everywhere and really struggled. Still managed to pump out over 650 calories. Did 30 minutes on the cross trainer, 45 minutes of weight training, and another 20 minutes of interval training. Very tired right now :) But am happy with my efforts considering it was a struggle.

Food:
- strawberries, sultanas and cherries - 100 cals
- omelette - 200 calories
- cup of tea, milk and honey- 40 -50 cals?
- banana - 100 calories
- date - 60 cals
- handful of almonds - 120 cals

Food is on track today, sitting at around 500 calories, and don't plan on eating until dinner now.  Having rice paper rolls again for dinner, a friend is coming over.

Felt really great after I woke up this morning (no food hangover), didn't feel sick going to bed full of food like I have in the past. New, beginnings! :)

The evening:
- Okay not a perfect day like I had hoped for, but still okay
- In the afternoon I had lots of cravings for sweet food. So I had 2 dates and a cup of tea, then brushed my teeth and was fine - did not over do it with eating too many sweet things.
- Evening meal - had a friend over for tea, she came late, so I was starving earlier in the night and had a healthy snack waiting for her.
- She bought over a big bag of potato chips to eat with the movie, and a specially made gluten-free dessert for us tonight (wasn't expecting this). This is a friend that I don't see often so she doesn't know that I am on Michelles plan.
- We didn't eat dinner until 9pm, rice paper rolls as said before.
- I hate to eat this late, makes me feel horrible the next day, no matter how healthy it is.
- Regarding the unhealthy food: I ate 4 chips (very unlike me, on occasion [but rarely these days] I have been known to devour at least half a bag of chips)
- And I had a spoonful of her dessert she had specially made for me, just to tell her how delicious it was.
- Then I went and brushed my teeth.  After she left, the rest of the bag of chips and the cake went to the bin! :)
- So by the time I had my afternoon sweets (dates and tea), my snack before tea, my dinner, and a few chips and bite of dessert, I think I have gone over my calorie restrictions.

However, although I have done this, I feel okay about everything. I feel like I was conscious in this process of eating. In the future I won't eat so late, I will just eat and leave food out for my friends. However, I didn't go overboard on the unhealthy food like I would have in the past. I feel excited that I didn't devour the bag of chips, and feel great that I didn't even want to!

Feeling good, not looking forward to my late night eating food hangover in the morning, however feel good about my decisions. I have a little Nici angel on my right shoulder keeping me on track :)

Week 7 - Wednesday!

Super pumped today! New attitude, I am going to kill this program with Nici!! Yay!
I am very excited about this process! I would say that I am officially beginning this process again today (had the brownie for dessert last night, which I was aware that I would do). Feel a bit yuck this morning. But have already organised my workout and eating plan for the day!

Just about to leave for an hour and a half workout session outside, and have spin class tonight! Will check in with calories burned tonight! Excited about this process and excited about getting on the scales on Friday morning!

Lets rip this program up Nici!


Food and Calories:
- watermelon and strawberries
- cup of tea with stevia and milk
- porridge with blueberries and sultanas
- carrot sticks and hommus
- rice paper rolls - fruit chutney
- small amount of sultanas
- cup of tea with honey and milk
- Exact calories not sure but not over 1200 calories - yay!


Exercise:
- Out in the rain with friends this morning, only 550 calories - so much harder outside, much harder to push yourself than at the gym, esp when it is raining and freezing, but just did it :)
- Tonight - on my way to spin class - hope I burn lots of calories there :) Looking foward to seeing how many I burn on my HR monitor! :)
- Did 30 mins on cross trainer and a spin class
- Burned over 1150 calories today!!!!!!!! YAY!!!

I hope you are going well today Nici! Can't wait to hear all about it! Btw, I haven't had any sweet treats yet, only saltanas in my porridge! Yay! Hope tonight after tea goes well! :) My plan is rice paper rolls and a cup of tea. Then brush teeth and that is it! Day 1 on my fight against my sweet tooth is going well! :)

I did have a small amount of sultanas - no where near what I normally have. I am excited and I did a huge workout. Happy with my efforts today! :)

I plan on doing weights tomorrow and cardio. Being a small weight I find it a lot harder to burn calories. I realised this after getting a HR monitor. I have to work hard for my calories. 70 minutes of intense cardio training and I can pump out 650 calories. But weights and normal training, even running doesn't give me a lot of love in terms of calories burning. I did a pump class last week and worked out really hard, and in 60 minutes only burned 150 calories. That was a bit devastating.  Tomorrow I am going to try an overall body weights session, with lots of supersets and see how I go. However, I will most certainly be doing cardio first. Hope it goes well :)

Week 7 - Tuesday

Okay, so I haven't posted for a while. Has been an interesting few days. I have had dinner events Sunday, Monday and tonight.  And it has been tough. Eating has not been on track, I have allowed myself to eat what I feel like out. Way too many treat meals. Not counting the calories.

So although my week other than these meals has been great, meals out and evening snacks have been my downfall on this program.

Last week:
- Friday - wasn't counting calories. Way too many carbs, lots of bread.  600 calorie workout.
- Saturday - wasn't happy with previous day, worked out hard - 600 calories. So did a real detox eating day. Majority of food fruit and vegies. Made me feel great for sunday.
- Sunday - was working and the gym doesn't open before work, and it was raining. So I went outside and JFDI, went for a run in the rain and burned 550 calories. Felt very in control of food, perfect eating until dinner time. Went out for dinner, ate chips with my meal, then ate a shared dessert. Felt sick that night. Reinforcement that light eating in the evening with little sweet food in the evening is important.
- Monday - Day in Melbourne, went for a 9km walk around the city. Eating was harder as I had to eat out. Fruit for breakfast, sushi for lunch. Dinner, went out and really enjoyed my food and dessert. No calorie counting, and again no control.
- Tuesday - woke up this morning not feeling well after a late tea and dessert, again reinforcing, stop eating late large meals and dessert! Huge workout 750 calories. Watermelon, strawberries, porridge, cup of tea so far. Having dinner at my house with friends, rice paper rolls and sort of healthy brownie.

I am recommitting to this process. I didn't lose any weight last week and am not game to weigh myself until Friday this week, so that I have two extra days to fix the damage I have done over the last week. I don't want to see  a weight gain on the scales.

Nici thanks for making me accountable. These are my goals and my committments.

My 3 month goals were and are:
- Lose 4% body fat (down 1.5%)
- Lose 4kg (half way there)
- Lose 10cm from my waist (completed)
- Lose cm's from my arms and more definition in the arms (still working on)

My committment:

My commitment to myself, my family, my friends, to Michelle, and most importantly to Nici is to:
1. Stick to the health and diet plan all the way! Even if I experience cravings I will acknowledge my emotions and feelings, and remain in control.
2. Confront maladaptive thought processes regarding food and eating, take note of them, release them and continue on the journey.
3. Accept responsibility for who I am, who I will become, what I put in my mouth and my behaviours.
4. Stay on task everyday, develop a plan, focus on and commit to the present tasks.
5. Exercise, eat, sleep, and breathe Michelle’s plan! Put my everything into it!
6. Lose 4kgs.
7. Lose 4% body fat.
8. Be strong and in control!
9. Have fun!

I commit to stick to this plan, detail every calorie I eat, every calorie I burn at the gym, detail everything.  I also haven't been completing the abs and core aspects of Michelles plan. I know that they are important and will start putting these into my workout schedules. I will also detail my struggles and successes.

Thanks for keeping me accountable Nici. Looking forward to a fabulous day tomorrow!