Friday 12 June 2015

Changing Things

So I've been a bit quiet on my blog recently. As you know things have changed in my home life which doesn't give me as much time as I would like to blog and I've also been struggling with
my weight loss performance. My own doing of course but I have allowed my life change to feed my excuses of not sticking to my weight loss plan and to continue to hang around the 13 stone mark. 

This is not good progress. I wanted to be close to goal by my birthday in July and ever since Christmas I've fluctuated between 13 stone 6lbs to 12 stone 11lbs. Ye, I've wasted 6 months of my time gaining and losing the same 9 or so pounds but I have learned that by eating carbs I will maintain my weight however that I need to create a good calorie deficit combined with running and resistance training in order to drop the pounds. I love carbs as much as the next girl and the thought of giving them up for life was something I didn't want to contemplate. For those of you who have been following my journey you'll know that over the past month or so I've changed my diet alittle to follow meals posted from Jo Wicks (aka The Body Coach). Previously I have been following clean eating and reducing my carb intake, only having pasta or rice or sweet potato in 1 or 2 meals a week. Jo's plan centres on a heavier carb intake to take into account HIIT exercises. I know that my body is not fit enough to start HIIT training so I introduced running instead. But this switch in meals and exercise coupled with me not sticking to plan 100% all the time hasn't stimulated any further weight loss and I'm faced with the cold hard truth that reducing calories and creating a calorie deficit with running and resistance training is the best method for me to lose weight. Damn carbs!!


So, on Sunday I am going back to filling my plates with lots of salad, veggies and meat dishes. I've filled my meal plan with some of my old favourites and have also included some new recipes which I am looking forward to trying. I am quite looking forward to eating fresher foods, not that the Lean in 15 meals weren't fresh but rice and pasta really aren't as fresh as veggies and salads, plus the weather is getting warmer so I'm quite looking forward to a change in my meals. I'll also post about the new recipes next week so watch out for the meal piccies!

I'm also looking forward to losing weight and the non scale victories that come with getting smaller; fitting into my size 14 clothes, feeling my current clothes get loser and seeing my fitness improve.

On the exercise front, I have been recently using the C25K app to start up running again and have been doing that 4 or 5 times a week. I haven't been doing any resistance training as the gym that I get free access to with my job, is quite restrictive with the times I can go so I've just been focusing on my running for the past 4-5 weeks. I am still seeing my personal trainer on a weekly basis and 2 weeks ago he wanted to see my running performance and despite telling me prior to the session that it was only going to be 1 lap around the park, it turned out to be 3 laps, almost 5K and me running for almost 7 minutes non stop before I had to have a walking break. With the app I had only been running continuously for 90 seconds, breaking it up with walking breaks so running for 7 minutes was pretty hard going! But, I did it and my PT wanted to show me that I could perform better than the app. 

My next session I took my PT to where I run around the lakes close to my house and again, he was mean and made me run more than I usually do but at the end of the session I had deleted the C25K app and I'm now training on his distances and times he has set for me (I will be doing a mini series of exercise posts soon with what I do, what I wear and equipment I use so watch this space!)

I'm not dismissing the C25K app at all, its a great tool to get someone going who is new to running. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get into running but doesn't know where to start. It's a training programme that works on building you up from sitting on your butt to running 5K in 10 weeks. However my PT felt that the app was holding me back and indeed, I can run longer than just the 90 seconds the app was getting me to do, I just thought I couldn't because the app was telling me to only run 90 seconds and that in itself was knackering for me. But with my PT's encouragement, he pushed me further than I've run before. My session last week had me running for 14 minutes and almost 2K in distance with no breaks, something I never would have contemplated before. It doesn't help that I do get super competitive during my sessions, if he sets me a target during our session then I have to do better!


So in line with my new (or old!) regime, I have set myself some targets to achieve. Nothing big, nothing scary, just small measurable targets to see me through the next 12 weeks. I want to be at goal for Christmas, but I'm not focusing on that just now. I'm breaking my weight loss into easier manageable chunks so it's easier for me to focus on the short term results which eventually will deliver my long term goal. My aims are:

*Lose 14lbs by 19th July (My birthday and a mini break to the West Coast) = 2.8lbs a week
*Lose 10lbs by 5th September (meet with my weight loss buddies) - 2lbs a week

Right now I'm taking it one day at a time and hopefully next month I'll have a new comparison pic to show you all. Who doesn't like a good old before and during pic?

Until next time

Much Love


Just Ems

Start Date: 7th October 2014
Highest Weight: 16 stone 2lbs - July 2014
Lowest Weight: 9 stone 12lbs - April 2009
Start Weight: 15 stone 8lbs - October 2014
Current Weight: Around 13 stone something
Total Weight Lost: 39lbs
Height 5'2




3 comments:

  1. Fab news on the running Hun! :D I'm struggling walking 7 steps, let alone running 7 minutes!!
    Don't beat yourself up about fluctuating. It's happened, you've made a new plan and now you can focus on your birthday goal :)

    Kick butt sweetie! You got this!

    Bex xxx

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  2. Hey =) I've missed you, haven't read a blog post in a long time. It makes me a bit sad that you're so hard on yourself. I agree that we should stick to our goals and pursue them but take a step back and look at your old pictures, look how far you've come, it's a completely different person. Have more pride in yourself =) xx

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  3. I did the couch to 5k programme and I loved it, but I do agree that most people can do a lot more than it gives you and it does feel at times that it's holding you back. I've also been a bit bad with my motivation and I'm also starting to pick up with it again so if you ever want someone to chat to, tweet me! Good luck with your goals xxxxxx

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