Macro Friendly Trifle

Yes, there is such a thing - isn't it beautiful? And this whole bowl only comes in at 139 calories - amazing!

My friend Emily gave me the idea recently when she posted about making a similar dessert and as a huge lover of trifle, I knew I had to give it a go.

It's super easy to make and tastes incredible.

Serves One

1/2 pint sugar free jelly (I used raspberry)
1 small pot Alpro custard
15g light squirty cream
Strawberries to garnish

Macros
Fat: 4.8g
Carbs: 18.3g
Protein: 5.5g
Total Cals: 139

Using Alpro custard gives it a little protein boost which I would never have thought of if Emily hadn't given me the idea - genius!

If you decide to make it, let me know what you think - I'm certain you'll love it!

5 Year Anniversary

Daily Weight: 161.8lb

After a horrible couple of days being completely out of action, I finally recovered enough on Friday to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.

I can't believe it's been 5 years, the time has flown by so quickly. And you know what they say - time flies when you're having fun and this is my most favourite adventure yet.

We started our day off the best way we know how - with a squat session at the gym! I had a fantastic legs/glutes session, which included front squats, lying leg curls, walking lunges, DB RDLs, leg press, glute bridges and some banded glutes work. My lower half was completely destroyed by the time I'd finished and I was really happy to have got through it with so much energy. It was a fasted session and the two days prior I'd consumed roughly 800 calories per day, due to being ill.

In the evening we planned to go out for steak and cocktails. We went for a couple of drinks beforehand in a little cocktail bar in the marina and whilst we were there, it started to rain - gah! Neither of us had a coat or an umbrella so we stayed there longer than anticipated and kept drinking. By the time the rain stopped it was almost 10pm so we went to our favourite local Indian restaurant instead as it was closer to walk to.

We had so much fun that night, taking silly selfies on snapchat...

You can add me @ justagirl_78 

Saturday morning, Emz was pretty good for nothing and spent most of the morning lying on the couch feeling very sorry for himself. Considering I'd mixed my drinks (red wine, rum & cider - eek) I actually felt ok apart from a little dehydrated. Once I'd made us cheesy omelettes and we'd eaten some fruit, he was feeling much better and we went for a lovely long walk along the beach and then into town for some food shopping.

He will kill me for posting this but I have to share how proud I am - he looks fantastic!

I'm a very lucky lady!

The scale has jumped slightly in the last two days due to the Indian food - it's the one thing that makes me gain a few lbs of water weight due to the high level of sodium. Prior to this I was 160lb and am hopeful of getting back under 160 by next weekend.

I'm happy with the progress I'm making right now. I'm not as lean as I was last summer but I'm looking thicker and more muscular and that is fine by me!

Hello baby abs!

Please excuse the blurred face - I was having a serious BOBFOC* moment ;-)

My legs are possibly looking the best they ever have - they are starting to lean out nicely and are looking shapely and I actually wore shorts with bare legs out yesterday, which is something I haven't done in years. Though it was out of my comfort zone, once I'd been out for about ten minutes I stopped being so paranoid and caught sight of my legs in a shop mirror and actually thought how strong and shapely they were looking - PROGRESS!

Today is supposed to be a refeed day but because I over indulged on Friday (even though I was technically around 1200 calories under for two days) I'm playing it safe and sticking to regular macros. 

Food for today is as follows:

Black coffee and water til 1.30pm

60 minutes fasted walking

Meal One:

2 slices brown (gluten free bread) with M&S smokey chicken breast

1 Fage coconut Fruyo

1 sugar free jelly

1 can Pepsi Max

Snack:

150g strawberries

Meal Two:

2 skinny burgers 

Broccoli & cauliflower

300g potato wedges

200g Greek yoghurt with 20g whey protein

Macros:

Protein: 130g

Carbs: 159g

Fat: 39g

Total Cals: 1580

Slightly over on carbs and under on fat but I'll be training fasted in the morning and with no structured refeed today, I'm not going to stress it.

Hope you're all having a great bank holiday weekend!



*BOBFOC = body off baywatch, face off crimewatch ;)

Day from hell

Daily weight: 161.4lb

Food eaten: Zero

Normal service will resume in a day or two.

Menstrual Cycle and Awaiting Surgery

Daily Weight: 163.1lb

As you can see, weight is increased this morning from yesterday and from my weigh ins of last week. It's not a surprise to me, as my period started on Sunday evening and it's very common for me to gain anything up to 7lb over the course of my period.

This is one reason I like to weigh in daily. Imagine if I was weighing once a week, as most people who diet do, only to step on the scales and see an increase from last week? If I didn't understand how my body works, that could cause me to feel like I've failed and that my "diet" isn't working. This can lead some people to give up, when in actual fact, all I've done is retain a little bit of water which will most likely be gone by the time the weekend rolls around.

As you will see from the title of this blog, I'm currently on the hospital waiting list for an operation. An hysterectomy to be exact. This was a difficult decision to come to, one that I've been putting off for almost two years for many reasons, one of them being my age and worrying about premature menopause.

You see, almost three years ago, I was diagnosed with fibroids after seeing my GP with increasingly painful periods. This is something I've suffered with since 2008 after I got sterilised. I had two previous endometrial ablations which helped with my heavy periods but unfortunately for me, the pain has got increasingly worse until the end of last year, when I finally decided I couldn't cope with the pain any longer.

Further investigation and discussion with my gynaecologist revealed that the problem isn't actually fibroids at all, but a condition called adenomyosis, which is often confused with fibroids on scans, etc as they look the same. However, from listening to my symptoms, my consultant said the problems I was experiencing, mainly crippling pain, was not caused by fibroids after all.

From what I've read, there isn't any definite cause of adenomyosis but it's thought that excess levels of estrogen can be partly to blame and there is increasing evidence to show that tubal ligations (sterilisation) can also cause it to develop.

Adenomyosis (also called uterine endometriosis) is a condition where endometrial tissue migrates into the wall of the uterus, which then responds to monthly hormonal changes, so when the period starts, this tissue breaks down and bleeds. But, because this is confined in the wall of the uterus, the blood has nowhere to go so remains trapped, almost like a permanent bruise, which then causes pain when the uterus contracts with menstrual cramps. Over time the uterus becomes hard and enlarged and the only permanent cure for this is an hysterectomy.

I resisted the surgery for as long as I could cope with the pain for but every month it is getting worse to the point where I'm losing 2-3 days from work per month because I simply cannot function. This is no exaggeration either, I'm usually curled up in a ball with a hot water bottle pushed forcefully against my stomach, sobbing because I can't cope with the pain and rushing to the toilet because of horrendous nausea. The only way I can describe the pain is to imagine going through labour, every. single. month.

I'm on super strong painkillers from my GP so when I'm not curled up in agony, I'm so spaced out that I can barely speak.

It's not a very nice way to live and each month, it seems to take me longer to recover from each episode. I lose so much sleep, can't eat properly and by the time my period is over I'm utterly exhausted. I usually then have two weeks to start recovering, get back to some normality with my training and mentally prepare myself for the next one. It is definitely taking a toll on my health, both physical and mental.

I'm hoping to have the procedure done laparoscopically so that there will be a much shorter recovery time and the least disruption to my life. Usually women are feeling back to normal and able to get back to normal duties within a few weeks, which is significantly less time than having the procedure abdominally, which means complete rest for 6 weeks post op and probably 6 months from training - eek!

Has anyone else suffered with terrible periods? And has anyone else had an hysterectomy? I'd love to hear your experiences so drop a comment below :)

Happy Monday

Daily Weight: 162.2lb

As I was away at my mum's house for the weekend, I wasn't able to weigh in for two days. Today's weight is as expected as I had my refeed day yesterday, which included an amazing Sunday roast from my wonderful mum and this bowl of deliciousness when I arrived home last night...

Oats, cooked in milk with a scoop of chocolate protein, strawberries & nutella <3 

My mum is just back from a trip to see my sister in Australia and it was so lovely to see her and hear all about her trip down under. We had a lovely relaxing weekend drinking coffee, doing some shopping and playing cards with not so mini JAG.

I also made time to go and visit my dad...

I miss him so much :'(

I had no problem sticking to my diet whilst I was away and it once again made me feel glad that I plan my refeed for a Sunday as my mum's Sunday roast is too good to miss!

Before we left to travel to the Midlands on Friday, we got in our final workout for the week, which happened to be leg day number 2 - ouch!  I had bags of energy and I increased the weight of my front squats but I fear I may have to take them out for a while as the pressure on my back when I was in the bottom of the squat was pretty painful.

Front Squat
Bar x8
Bar x8
Bar x8
30kg x5
45kg x5
45kg x5
45kg x5

Lying Leg Curl
38.75kg x12
38.75kg x12
38.75kg x9

Plyometric Lunges
BW x20
BW x16

Superset with BB RDLs
40kg x10
40kg x10

Leg Press
170kg x10
170kg x8
170kg x8

Barbell Glute Bridge
45kg x12
45kg x12
45kg x12

Banded Clams
Extra strong band x15
Extra strong band x15
Extra strong band x15

Superset with Seated Abductions
Extra strong band x15
Extra strong band x15
Extra strong band x15

I switched out walking lunges this time for plyometric lunges and oh my god, they were so tough! I used to do these for sets of 32 when I used to do Body Attack back in the day but I couldn't even manage more than 20! It's something to build on though :)

My legs and glutes were toast by the time I'd finished but I'm really loving leg day training - gotta improve on that butt to waist ratio...

Today was upper body day and I didn't think I was going to have a very good session as Aunt Flo has arrived, which brings a whole host of problems for me, which I'll be blogging about at some point in the near future!

However, I had a fantastic workout and felt strong throughout.

Bench Press
Bar x8
Bar x8
30kg x5
42.5kg x6
42.5kg x6
42.5kg x6

Chins with a neutral grip
BW x3 - Assisted x3
BW x2 - Assisted x1

Cable Flyes
15kg x10
15kg x10

DB Rows
40lbx10
40lb x10
40lb x10

I got Emz to record my rows as I wanted a form check. I'm glad that I did because, as you will see from the video, I am bringing my elbow too high which is causing my torso to twist at the top of the move. I corrected this after my first set and my reps felt much better!

Lateral Raises
2.5kg x15
2.5kg x15
2.5kg x15

Superset with Bent Over Rear Raises
2.5kg x10
2.5kg x10
2.5kg x10

I was almost crying by the time I'd finished up with delts - I honestly don't think I've ever had such a pump before!

Food from today:

Tea, black coffee and water until 2pm

Meal One
400g mashed potato with piri piri chicken,
150g full fat Greek yoghurt
150g strawberries
1 sugar free jelly
Can Pepsi Max

Meal Two
2 gluten free wraps with salad cream, salsa, mixed salad & smoky chicken breast
2 cheese sticks
200g fat free Greek yoghurt with 20g whey protein

Carbs: 150g
Fat: 53g
Protein: 143g
Total Cals: 1684

#ThickThighThursday

Daily Weight: 162lb

As you can see from my weekly weight log, I'm over 2lb down on last week which I'm really happy with. I'm hoping to be back under 160lb in the next week or so. I'm also hitting macro targets more closely too - see the green box? That means I've hit the range I'm supposed to be aiming for.

Motivation is at an all time high at the moment and I'm embracing it because as you know, motivation can come and go. When it goes, I stay consistent with my training, maybe relax the reigns on the eating a little and have faith, because it always comes back. Sometimes it just takes a little longer.

I had the best upper body training session last night, which included a new PR on my chin ups, performing 2 sets of 3 unassisted chins. Considering I'm still quite heavy I'm very pleased about this!

Training for last night is below.

Warm Up - various mobility exercises using bands and light weights.

Chin Ups
x3 unassisted x3 assisted
x3 unassisted x2 assisted

DB Bench Press
30lb x10
30lb x10
30lb x10

Lat Pulldown
52.gkg x10
52.5kg x8
52.5kg x8

Seated Incline Press
40kg 8
40kg x8

Seated DB OHP
20lb x10
20lb x8
20lb x8

Face Pulls
25kg x12
25kg x12

Glute Cable Kickback
10kg x15
10kg x15
10kg x15

Single Leg Pushdown (on assisted pull up machine)
x20 (each leg)
x20 (each leg)
x20 (each leg)


My upper body was so exhausted by the time I'd finished but I got a great pump going on :-)

Tomorrow is my second leg day of the week and time to beast these bad boys...

You can call me Quadzilla

I will be away to visit my mum at the weekend but will take my laptop with me so hope to get a blog post up whilst I'm away. If there is anything you'd like to read about, please let me know in the comments section.

I'll leave you with yesterday's food details.

Tea, coffee and water til 1pm

Meal One
Piri piri chicken with spiced Mexican rice
2 cheese sticks
180g strawberries
1 sugar free jelly
1 can Pepsi Max

PWO Snack
200g fat free Greek yoghurt with 20g whey protein

Meal Two
Home made pizza with a gluten free pizza base, topped with tomato puree, grated mozzarella, piri piri chicken, mozzarella pearls and sliced jalapeno peppers

Carbs: 149g
Fat: 54g
Protein: 153g
Total Cals: 1699


Sometimes, you just need to eat pizza right?

Leg Day Domination

Daily Weight: 163.1lb

I'm happy with only 0.2lb increase on the scale the morning after my refeed! I woke feeling a little more trim and tighter and I felt the extra carbs definitely helped fuel an epic leg day.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I had one of the most amazing legs & glutes sessions I've ever had. I had tons of energy, every muscle felt like it was engaging and working as it should and my glutes circuit at the end caused me to shed a tear or two just from sheer effort. My glutes were on fire by the end and my entire lower half felt like it had given every last ounce of energy.

I'm absolutely loving the extra volume - I've found from experience that my legs seem to respond much better to a lot of volume rather than very heavy weights for fewer reps. And as blasphemous as it may sound, I'm actually not missing training for powerlifting. At all.

I start every session of with a variety of mobility exercises and dynamic stretches. Legs/glutes day warm up includes forward and sideways leg swings, hip circles, fire hydrants, hip flexor stretches, third world squats, some glute rolling and stretching and lots of body weight squats.

The rest of today's session is as follows...

FRONT SQUAT
Bar x8
Bar x8
Bar x8
30kg x5
40kg x5
40kg x5
40kg x5

LYING LEG CURL
38.75kg x12
38.75kg x12
38.25kg x11

WALKING LUNGES superset with DB RDLs
10lb x24
10lb x20

DB RDLs
35lb x12
35lb x12

LEG PRESS
170kg x10
170kg x10
170kg x10

GLUTES CIRCUIT - 3 ROUNDS

Glute Bridge - 25kg 3x15
Banded Clams (Extra strong band) 3 x 15
Seated Abductions (Extra strong band) 3 x 15

I performed each glute exercise with no rest in between, with a 30 second rest before starting the next circuit. On my final set of clams, a few tears sprung out just from the burning sensation and the exhaustion I was starting to feel. Who said you need heavy weights to get a good workout huh?

I had a wonderful post workout glutes pump too!

Food & macros for today:

Coffee, tea and water til 1pm

Meal One
Hickory smoked chicken with root vegetable mash
1 Skyr sour cherry yoghurt
150g strawberries
1 sugar free jelly
1 can Pepsi Max

PWO Snack
150g full fat Greek yoghurt, 175g fat free Greek yoghurt & 20g whey protein mixed in

Meal Two
1 chicken breast grilled with smoky barbecue sauce
Mixed salad
Rosemary & garlic roast potatoes

Protein: 141g
Fat: 31g
Carbs: 157g
Total Cals: 1533

As you can see I'm over on carbs (should be 140g) but I'm under on fats (should be 50g). If I hit my protein goal and stick within calories I try not to stress too much about carbs/fats. Sometimes carbs will be lower as I'll be over on fats and vice versa. You can sweat the small stuff a bit too much so I try and take a laid back approach to nutrition. I find if I get too anal, old habits start to creep back in and having been binge free for 5 years, it's not a place I want to re-visit.

Tomorrow is rest day but will include 30-60 minutes of walking (especially if the weather stays as nice as it has been) and training will continue on Wednesday with upper body and chins, bench, lat pulldowns, some delt work and of course, more glutes training.

Adios and thanks for reading!

The Whoosh

Daily Weight: 162.9lb

Yesterday and today, I weighed in at 162.9lb. That's a significant drop from the rest of the week and I had a feeling I was going to have a "whoosh". Apparently, as we lose fat, our fat cells temporarily fill up with water in the event that the fat stores will be replenished. When they aren't, we get the whoosh effect, which means we drop the water and our fat loss shows on the scale.

I posted yesterday on Instagram just how easy it is to gain a lot of weight in a relatively short space of time, yet it takes twice as long to lose it again.

Back in March, I was scheduled to take a two week diet break to coincide with my birthday. My last diet break in July 2015 actually went pretty well and I only regained a few lbs, most of which were from water. However, this time it all went to shit and I went off the rails in a big way, eating several takeaways, drinking lots of wine and just over indulging in general.  As a result, I gained 12lbs. Yes. 12lbs in two weeks. I'm now three weeks back into dieting and have only shifted 7 of those 12lbs.

Though I didn't look that much bigger overall, I looked much softer and fluffier and wasn't as tight as I'd prefer. You can see from the picture below, the first of which was taken on 10th April and the second was taken yesterday...

And although I'm not back to my pre-diet break weight, I'm feeling so much better. Not that I think I look bad in the first photo, I just prefer to feel a little bit tighter. My clothes weren't fitting as well, things were digging into places where they didn't used to and I generally just felt a bit uncomfortable.

I'm starting to see my abs peeking again :-)

It's been a gym free weekend but we've been out and about in the beautiful sunshine, doing lots of walking. We met up for coffee with a friend in the marina this morning and got a little sun burned in the process! I never believed it would be hot enough to burn but lesson learned. Whenever I'm showing any skin, slap on the sun screen!

Dieting has been going well this weekend and today is my refeed, which comes at the perfect time as tomorrow is one of my two leg sessions this week.

Yesterday's food was as follows:

Coffee, tea and water til 2.30pm

Meal One
Mexican rice with sweet & smoky chicken, salad & tomato

2 cheddar sticks
1 sugar free jelly
100g strawberries
1 can Pepsi Max

Snack
2 clementines

Meal Two
2 skinny burgers with 10g ketchup and 20g burger mayo
100g silverskin onions
Mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, mini corn and green beans)
200g fat free Greek yoghurt and 125g 10% fat Greek yoghurt with 20g whey protein mixed in

Macros for the day:

Protein: 141g
Fat: 50g
Carbs: 141g
Total Cals: 1638


And today's food (refeed day)

Tea, coffee and water til 3pm

Meal One
Mexican rice with Mexican mini chicken fillets
55g gluten free bacon cheese twists
100g strawberries
1 can Pepsi Max

Snack
4 gluten free ginger & chocolate cookies
1 pack Mexican style chicken

Meal Two
100g oats cooked with 450ml semi skimmed milk and topped with sugar free syrup and 1 chopped Grenade caramel chaos protien bar

Macros for the day:

Protein: 137g
Fat: 63g
Carbs: 247g
Cals: 2124


Slightly over on fat and protein for today but you can't get it perfect every single day right?

I'll be back tomorrow with a training update - bring on legs day :-)

Upper Body Training - 13.5.16

Daily Weight: 164.4lb

Hallelujah, the weekend is finally here! And what glorious weather we've had to finish up the working week...

And weather as gorgeous as this can only mean one thing...

An empty gym - hooray!

I had a really fantastic upper body session and thankfully, all of the soreness from Monday's training had disappeared ready for tonight.

Bench Press
Bar x8
Bar x8
Bar x8
30kg x5
40kg x8
40kg x8
40kg x8

BW Chins
x2
x3 (with assistance - i.e. Emz grabbing my butt!)

Cable Flyes
15kg x12
15kg x12

DB Rows
40lb x8
40lb x8
40lg x7

Lateral Raises 
2.5kg x12
2.5kg x12

SUPERSET WITH

Rear Delt Flyes
2.5kg x10
2.5kg x10

Donkey Kicks (on smith machine)
10kg x12
10kg x12
10kg x12

Frog Pumps
3 x 30

Frog Pumps are most definitely the weirdest exercise that I perform in the gym...

But they are so effective as a finisher - if you haven't tried them, I really recommend that you do.

Today's food has been pretty good. I've hit my macro targets and managed to do so without any real hunger pangs (except for the half an hour before I broke my fast)

Black tea, coffee and water til 1.15pm

Meal One:
Root vegetable mash (carrot, swede & potato) with piri piri chicken
1 pot 2% Greek Yoghurt
2 cheddar cheese sticks
150g strawberries
1 sugar free jelly
1 can Pepsi Max

Meal Two:
2 gluten free wraps with salad cream, salsa, salad (lettuce, peppers & sweetcorn) and 170g roast beef
1 salt and vinegar rice cake
200g fat free Greek yoghurt with 20g whey protein mixed in
1 sugar free jelly

Protein: 152g
Carbs: 155g
Fat: 48g
Total Cals: 1701

Over on carbs by 15g but it's not the end of the world!

There will be no gym over the weekend but I plan to get out into the sunshine as much as I can, hopefully with a lovely long walk along the beach. Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back with another blog post at some point in the next day or two.

Happy #FlexFriday

Masochist

Daily Weight: 164.9lb (That post leg day pump)

I'm sure I'm not the only person that gets a sick, twisted sense of satisfaction from totally trashing my muscles in the gym? That delicious feeling of heaviness setting into the muscles within the hour of finishing in the gym. That heaviness totally weighing you down and feeling utterly divine as you make it to bed and sheer exhaustion takes over as you drift into the best sleep ever. No? Just me?

Last night's legs & glutes session was absolutely awesome! I love training high volume on my leg days, my muscles seem to respond really well and I just love the feeling of my muscles filled with blood and pumped to the max. And boy, were they pumped by the time I'd finished!

I started off my session as I always do, with ten minutes of mobility work which includes leg swings (forwards and sideways), hip circles, fire hydrants, dynamic hip flexor stretches, third world squats and lots of body weight squats. Whilst my glute/low back is acting up I also roll my glutes and stretch them before I start, which seems to help somewhat.

Squats are still being kept super light as they aggravate my injury if I start to up the weight too much. However, unlike deadlifts, keeping them light isn't causing any problems at the moment.

Front Squats
Bar x8
Bar x8
Bar x8
30kg x5
40kg x5
40kg x5
40kg x5

Lying Leg Curls
37.5kg x12
37.5kg x12
37.5kg x12

Walking Lunges
10lb Dumbbells x20
10lb Dumbbells x16

I did these as a superset with RDLs.

DB Romanian Deadlifts
30lb x10
30lb x10

Leg Press
170kg x10
170kg x8
170kg x8

Glutes Circuit
I did the following exercises as a circuit with no rest and completed each circuit two times. (I had planned for 3-4 rounds but my glutes were toast!)

Glute Bridges 25kg x15
Banded Clams Extra Strong Band x15
Seated Abductions Extra Strong Band x15

I hobbled my way out of the gym afterwards and have the nicest feeling of DOMS developing as today has wore on. I know I'm sick - I love it!

Food for today is as follows...

Meal One
x1 gluten free wrap with 20g salad cream, 30g salsa, mixed salad (lettuce, peppers & sweetcorn), smoky chicken
x2 mature cheddar cheese sticks
x2 salt and vinegar rice cakes
x1 pot 2% Greek Yoghurt
150g strawberries
x1 can Pepsi Max

Snack
x2 clementines
x2 salt and vinegar rice cakes

Meal Two
x2 M&S 'skinny burgers' with 20g burger mayo
350g mixed veg (broccoli, carrots, green beans & courgette)
50g silverskin onions
x1 vine tomato with 30g reduced fat mozzarella
x1 sugar free jelly
200g fat free Greek yoghurt mixed with 20g strawberry whey


Protein: 150g
Fat: 53g
Carbs: 141g
Total Cals: 1657

Almost perfect macros *high five*

Daily Food

Daily weight: 164.4lb

The diet seems to be going well and daily weight is coming down slowly. I'm not ruled by the scale - my coach instructed me to daily weigh as very often, "weight loss" can be quite erratic in ladies, especially around their period, due to hormonal changes. I weigh daily and then my spread sheet works out a weekly average, but my *official* weigh day (for me) is on Saturday, the day before and furthest away from my weekly reefed.

Compliance is good and I'm not struggling with any real hunger issues at the moment. I'm still daily fasting for 14-16 hours per day, which I've been doing for over 5 years and is more a way of life for me now than for fat loss reasons. I find dieting so much easier when fasting due to a shorter eating window and larger meals, which definitely helps with satiety.

A number of lovely readers expressed an interest in seeing what I'm eating and what kind of macros I'm hitting and though I don't want this to turn into just an online food diary, I don't mind recording my daily meals/macros and posting a few photos for you.

Today's food intake is as follows:

Black tea, coffee & water up until 1pm.

Meal one:

Root vegetable mash (carrot, swede & potato) with sweet & smoky chicken
1 pot 2% Greek yoghurt
Lemon & Lime sugar free jelly
100g strawberries
1 can Pepsi Max

I'll be hitting the gym after work for an epic lower body session, which will include front squats, RDLs, walking lunges, lying leg curls, leg press, glute bridges, banded clams and seated abductions.  I can't remember the last time I dedicated an entire workout solely to legs and glutes but I'm very excited - bring on the volume and bring on the soreness!

Food for the rest of the day is as follows:

Post workout:
200g fat free Greek yoghurt with 20g strawberry whey protein mixed in

Meal Two:
x2 gluten free wraps filled with salad, spicy chicken, 60g grated mozzarella, salad cream & salsa
50g pickled onions
x2 sliced vine tomatoes

Just so that you can get an idea of my eating window, I typically eat my first meal between 12.30-1.30 depending on hunger levels. Gym at 5pm, with a post workout snack at around 6.30pm and my evening meal will then be between 8-8.30pm. I then fast until the next day, drinking only tea, coffee and water.

Daily macros for today look like this:

Carbs: 149g
Fat: 42g
Protein: 146g
Total Cals: 1599


I'm hoping to get some videos in the gym tonight if it's not too busy and I'll be back tomorrow with another update.

Thanks for reading :-)

Training & Diet Update

Daily weigh in - 164.7lb

Two solid weeks of dieting back under my belt and the weight is coming down again nicely. I'm 5lb lighter than I was a fortnight ago and most of the bloat has dissipated. I'm a few lbs heavier than I was back in February but I'm not overly concerned at this point as I know it will all be gone in the next few weeks.

My coach changed up my macros a couple of weeks ago and I'll admit, I'm struggling slightly with the change in carbs. Prior to this I was carb cycling and got used to having 180g on training days, 100g on rest days and then a once a week reefed of 250g on Sunday.  I'm a creature of habit and tend to stick to the same carb sources, so got used to what carbs I would eat on training and rest days and how I would split that up between my meals.

However, since the change I'm now on 140g per day and even though it's only a 40g drop (or gain) I'm still getting used to splitting that between my meals. I can't eat what I normally would during my first meal because it would mean having little to no carbs then for my evening meal and I want to eat all the carbs dammit!  I know, first world problems and all that ;)

Today marks my 500th day of consistent logging on MyFitnessPal:

Even on days where I've not really been dieting, I still track my protein intake and try and make sure I hit my target, even if everything else has gone to shit! Getting a consistent level of protein definitely helps, whether you're overeating and looking to gain or eating in a deficit trying to lose fat.

Onto training :-)

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm suffering with a slight injury of the glute/lower back region which is causing some problems with my training. Whilst I'm missing heavy deadlifts and squats, I've actually enjoyed the change of pace in my training. I'd switched to a full body routine 3 times a week but whilst I'm not going all out with my powerlifting, I quickly found the routine just wasn't giving me a good enough workout.

So, until I am fit enough to return to my previous 531 template, I'm switching over to an upper/lower split, with the upper body having an A & B portion to include everything that I want it to.

Last night was the first time at doing my Upper Body A workout and I'm deliciously sore this morning as a result - gotta love a bit of volume!

As my injury is still niggling away (I really MUST book in and see someone about it!) I included some super light deadlifts for lots of reps...

Deadlifts
Bar x10
Bar x10
Bar x10
40kg x8
40kg x8
40kg x8
40kg x8

Dumbbell Bench
35lb x10
30lb x10
30lb x10

Lat Pulldown
45kg x10
45kg x10

Seated Chest Press
40kg x8
40kg x8

Seated DB OHP
15lb x12
15lb x12
15lb x12

Face Pulls
25kg x15
25kg x15

Glute Bridges
25kg x15
25kg x15
25kg x15


Deadlifts didn't feel too bad at all and the more I did, the better and looser my back/glutes felt. I made sure I warmed up sufficiently, mobilised lots and rolled and stretched out my glutes beforehand and also throughout after each set, which seemed to help a little. My lower back is feeling a little tender this morning though so I know I absolutely have to get this sorted if I want to get back to any kind of heavy lifting.

Wednesday will be lower body training and I'm stupidly excited for it. I've always loved training legs with a lot of volume and it's the one thing I missed most when I changed up to a full body routine.

Would anyone be interested in a daily food diary/macro breakdown? If so, drop me a comment and let me know.

Last weeks' training

I've been having a rough time of it lately where training is concerned. Sometime mid February, I made the mistake of training when I was ill and lost concentration during my top set of deadlifts. I wasn't as tight as I should have been and on my last rep, I felt something not right in my left glute which radiated pain up into my lower back. I managed to carry on with the rest of my session but was in agony the next day with pain in my back.

Deadlifts & squats seem to be the only exercises that exacerbate my pain and so I've not had any trouble continuing with training. I took deadlifts out until a couple of weeks ago, when I decided to try some light weight high reps to see how they felt. I had zero pain and so felt confident enough to start building them back up. Sadly, as soon as I added more weight, the pain came back. Squats I've managed to keep in but have had to significantly lighten the load.

I've experienced a similar problem in the past and taking a break from deadlifts, working on mobility and stretching all seemed to help. Sadly this time, I'm not seeing any permanent relief so think it's time I booked in with my physio to see what's going on.

The pain is located deep within my left glute which is referring pain into my lower back. From what I've read online, it seems like it could be a problem with tightness in the gluteus minimus...

I find relief when performing stretches that target this area so maybe I need someone to just get their elbow deep into the tissue and work out whatever knot is causing this problem! 

I know I have to get it fixed - I miss my deadlifts :'(

The last week of training went pretty well. I was poorly on Monday so didn't manage to make it to the gym but got in a decent workout on Wednesday and Friday and did lots of walking in between.

Wednesday's training was as follows:

Warm Up: Mobility drills

Bench Press: Bar x10 x2, 30kg x5, 40kg x8 x3

DB Rows: 45lb x10 x3

Walking Lunges: 15lb DBs x24, x16, x16

RDLs Bar x10 x2, 40kg x12, x12, x10

Seated DB OHP: 15lb x12, x12

Lateral Raises: 2.5lb x15 x2

Friday:

Warm Up: Mobility drills

Front Squats: Bar x8 x2, 30kg x5, 45kg x5 x4

Chin Ups: BW x3 Assisted x3

Seated Press: 40kg x8 x3

Good Mornings: 25kg x10 x3

Cable Curls: 25kg x10 x3

Tricep Pushdowns 25kg x10 x3

As you can see, whilst I have this niggle, I've eliminated all glute training in the hopes that I can speed up recovery. I'm praying I don't lose my gains *sobs*

After a taking a diet break the week before my birthday (which spiralled out of control but that's another story!) I've been back to dieting now for the past two weeks and am pleased to see I'm 4lbs lighter this morning :-) 

I took a few progress pictures this morning, to see where I'm at and though I'm not where I was a few months ago, it will only be a few short weeks until I'm back to where I was...

Today is refeed day, so I'm off to demolish half of this amazing pie...

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday friends - I'll be back next week with another update. Thanks for reading - mwah!

Physique Goals

Those that have been following me for any length of time will know how hard I work, both in and out of the gym, in my seemingly never-ending quest for my best ever physique. I've experienced being overweight, flabby and out of shape...

 

 

Which led me to under eat and over exercise until I was skinny fat, still flabby and kinda shapeless....

Back in 2011 I started to focus more on weight training and less on running and so began the journey to obtain my goal physique. I couldn't even begin to tell you how that goal looks right now because , until I get there, I won't know. Do I want to be shredded? Hell no! Being super lean year round is way too hard to maintain and I enjoy my food and my life way too much. However, I would like to reach a certain level of leanness where I look good both in and out of my clothes, where it's noticeable that I workout without flexing and where I would be happy to put on a bathing suit for an impromptu day at the beach. And to be honest, I'm probably not that far off from getting to that point.

Those that have continued to follow me on facebook whilst I took my blogging hiatus will know that I started to work with an online coach in February of last year. Whilst I wasn't desperately unhappy with how I looked, I was carrying a bit more body fat than I would have liked.

I stepped on the scale and was horrified to see I was 181lb. Even though I'm not ruled by the scale and I'm tall at 5'8, this was much too heavy for my preference. It prompted me to get my body fat checked at the gym and it showed as 26.4%.

I posted about it on my facebook page and the next day received a message from a long time online friend of mine, someone I have always looked up to because of their excellent knowledge regarding all things nutrition and fitness. He told me he was looking to get certified with ISSN and needed to take on some online clients to gain experience with coaching. He offered to coach me to help me to achieve my physique goals, which would involve nutritional & training assistance, regular updates and adjustments, support and accountability.

It sounded perfect and just what I needed. I know enough in order to get lean but having someone to be accountable to would mean I'd stick to whatever I was asked to do.

I answered an in depth questionnaire about my goals and what I hoped to achieve with coaching and then tracked my intake for a week, logging everything onto a spreadsheet, including daily weight,  macros, exercise, water intake and how my mood was affected, ie. energy levels, libido, etc.

Once I'd given all this information, I received my nutritional targets and exercise requirements and this continues to be monitored and tweaked on a weekly basis.

I weigh myself daily and log this on my spreadsheet and at the end of the day, log macros and exercise, make notes about mood, energy levels, etc and then email my coach every Thursday to "check in". He will then review all of my information for the week before and make changes (or not) based on my progress over the previous week.

Though I've lost weight numerous times in the past, I can honestly say that having a coach has made such a huge difference! Having that person to oversee everything, hold me accountable and offer an objective opinion when I'm having a bit of a meltdown is totally invaluable.

I've made astounding progress whilst I've been working with him, losing 24lb of fat whilst retaining strength and muscle and keeping my curves, which is important to me.

I also hit a new 1RM on my deadlift at the end of 2015, pulling 141kg - yes, it's only 1lb heavier than my previous 1RM but I pulled that at a time when I was 24lb heavier so I'll take that as a win!

Is this thing on?

Wow, it's been a long time since I last blogged! So long in fact, that my old, much loved blog @ jagsfitnessblog has now expired and I have lost all of my old posts forever.  Gutted doesn't even come close to how sad I feel about this. Though I haven't blogged for probably two years, I had 8 years worth of old posts that documented so much of my life and health/fitness journey that are now gone forever.

 

However, this sad turn of events has inspired my to start blogging again, with a fresh start and a new blog.  At this moment in time, I can't say whether my blogging mojo has returned for good but I am feeling motivated to give it another go as I often feel I have so much to say and no real platform to talk about things. Though I'm still quite active on my facebook page and instagram, I don't really have a place where I can get my thoughts down, where I can ramble if I want to, without worrying about boring people who only log onto facebook to look at photos of other people's pets and read about what they're having for dinner.

 

I'm going to try and update regularly and it would be nice to know what you guys want to read about. Though the primary focus of this blog will remain about diet/fitness, I would also like to write about life in general - beauty, fashion, health, music, books, etc.

 

A brief update on me:

 

I'm still living in Swansea with my best friend and lobster...

 

 

 

and we got engaged back on 31st October last year!

 

 

I'm still very much into my weight lifting...

 

 

But I'm also very much getting into yoga...

 

 

I started a new body transformation phase last year, receiving coaching from a friend of mine and have made some excellent progress so far. Though I don't have plans to step on stage and compete, I'm interested to see how much I can transform my physique...

 

 

I'm still practising daily fasting (5 years and counting!) and am still following the same 16/8 protocol that I started on back at the beginning of 2011. I doubt that will ever change as it fits my lifestyle so well.

 

I'm still hooked on coffee and steak and my love affair with oats has been reignited since I switched from high fat & low carb to a more moderate intake of both. I'll be posting a more detailed write up of both my current diet and training schedule soon.

 

I'll leave this post here for now but please, do leave me a comment and let me know what sort of posts YOU would like to read from me :)