2017, it's been emotional!

2017. What a year. It's absolutely flown by, there's been highs and lows, and I've grown so much as a person. (Better late than never, right?)

I'd go as far to say it's been my best year yet. I had lots of goals for 2017, I wrote a list of them (not just health and fitness related!) and I kept it at the back of my diary to check at the end of the year. Amazingly, I have been able to tick off every single thing on the list, except one, but the wheels are in motion for it to happen next year. I'm proud of myself.

As well as those goals, I'd decided that 2017 would be the year I'd finally achieve the body I'd wanted for so long. But, now I know having these unrealistic expectations and aesthetic goals weren't a good idea - I had no clue at that point how much time, patience and consistency it actually takes. As it's turned out, my transformation this year is not something I can put into a "before & after photo" and share on Instagram with the hashtag #TransformationTuesday. Rather, it's been a shift in mindset and overall attitude towards life, becoming a happier, healthier and more confident person.

I can almost pinpoint the start of this change (whether it was subconsciously or not) to May 2017, when I sadly lost my Aunt to Cancer. Without going in to too much detail, it all happened frighteningly quickly, and it really hit me quite hard. It sparked a series of thoughts in my head as it would most people; the realisation that life is short, and it should be lived fully. I decided I wanted to start putting myself first, I didn't want to be held back from acheiving things by my fear, anxiety or introverted ways anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not there yet. But many books, blogs, podcasts, and a fantastic coach later, a whole new world has opened up to me - so many brain gains! I've achieved things in the past 6 months, that if you'd told me I'd be doing a year or so ago, I would have laughed in your face!

Which leads me on to an example of something I've recently done that I'm extremely proud of... boxed at a charity boxing event! Boxing was something completely new to me, and well outside of my comfort zone, but I wanted to challenge myself. It involved training 3 times a week for 8 weeks, before stepping out into the ring in front of hundreds of people. It was tough, mentally, but an experience I'll never forget. More importantly, I raised over £200 in sponsorship for Cancer Research UK.

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to top that in 2018. I've started making my list.. and I have a few tricks up my sleeve. But for now, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and enjoying the process.

Tips for damage control this Christmas

With the festive season upon us and various parties and social gatherings starting to happen, it's easy to let your usual diet and training regime take a bit of a hit.

I am not saying this is a bad thing at all, it's near enough impossible not to let it happen to be honest. I'm certainly not going to be able to get to the gym as often as I'd like, or track my food as accurately as I normally would. After all, Christmas is a time to enjoy and relax with your nearest and dearest.

That being said, there are a few approaches I'll be taking this year to 'limit the damage' to my progress so far, which I'm going to outline below. The main underlying principle though, is to avoid falling in to the 'all or nothing' mindset. Something is better than nothing.

1. Don't say you won't eat the mince pie (or whatever delicious delicious festive food you love but know you probably shouldn't eat)

Restricting yourself from certain treats will make you sad basically. Telling yourself you can't have something will just make you want it more, it's human nature, and it can lead to disinhibition (AKA the "f*** it" mentality), as in; "Well I've eaten the forbidden pie now so f***it I may as well eat the other 3 plus some Christmas pudding and oh, it would be rude not to have some Christmas cake too..."

Instead, make the conscious decision beforehand that if you find yourself really wanting to eat something, allow yourself to have it. That way you'll be in control of what you eat and you won't feel like you're depriving yourself. Remember, you don't have to be perfect, just better.


2. Be mindful when eating, know when you're satisfied and stop there

I'd discourage you from rationalising your potential over eating this Christmas with the "my diet starts 1st January, so I need to eat all I can before then" excuse. I've been there, done that - it really does just set you up for failure.

Try to keep your portion sizes in check, if you aren't sure what these should be, check out this handy guide. If you finish your meal and you're considering that second helping, first wait 20 minutes and then ask yourself if you really want it - it takes your brain about this amount of time to register the feeling of being full.

Following on from that, you should aim to eat until you're satisfied, not until you're so stuffed you can't move! Slow down - you should be enjoying every bite of food as much as the first bite. If you're not, then you could just be eating for the sake of it or out of habit of clearing your plate whether you are satisfied or not.


3. Stay (moderately) active

If you're too busy for your usual workout regime, try excusing yourself from the festivities for 10 - 15 minutes to squeeze in a quick body weight workout which can be done anywhere. There's a whole load of workouts you could do which require no equipment - just Google it. A little is better than nothing at all.

Go for a walk outside about half an hour after finishing your Christmas dinner - even if it's just a 15 minute brisk walk, studies have shown this can regulate your blood sugar as well as giving your digestive system a kick start. Also, the fresh air will perk you up and stop you from getting that sluggish food coma feeling that comes after a large meal.

Finally, and this will certainly be applicable to me this year, if you can get to the gym, take advantage of the extra calories and smash a couple of solid weightlifting sessions. The additional food will serve well as extra fuel to really push yourself during your workout, and contribute to muscle recovery and growth. Winner winner... Christmas dinner!

~

P.s., if you do have a huge blowout or an epic cheat meal/day/week (let's face it, it's probably going to happen to me) don't beat yourself up about it. It's been said to death, but just get straight back on track the following day - don't starve yourself, don't kill yourself at the gym doing guilt cardio, just appreciate what you've had and move onward and upwards.

Merry Christmas!

P.p.s. Don't be like deadlift Santa, always wear a shirt and clip your bar.

The struggle is real

Why do we make simple things so difficult for ourselves? Get more sleep. Drink more water. Eat less processed food. Cut down on alcohol consumption. It's not bloody ground breaking stuff and we know it will do wonders for our health so why is it still so hard for us to act on?

Is it lack of willpower? Laziness? Or is it because we obviously don't want to reach our goals that much?

I really wish I knew the answer, truth is it is probably a combination of things that are different for everyone. However, I'm going to talk about how our habits and routines that have been ingrained in our day to day lives over the years can help us make these lifestyle changes.

Habit is a powerful thing.

Everyone knows that getting out of a bad habit is a difficult task, well picking up new habits can be even harder. One study suggests that it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to stick and become automatic. That is of course assuming that the activity is repeated consistently.

Take the task of drinking more water each day for example. It infuriates me that looking at that statement written down, or even saying it out loud makes it seem like such a small, simple thing to change... So why is it difficult for some people to reach their target intake?

I can personally relate to this one! I guess it has never been a habit or part of my daily routine to drink at regular intervals. I have in the past set smart watch notifications to remind myself to drink, and used an app to track my water intake throughout the day, but it didn't really help it become something I do automatically without consciously thinking about.

Instead, try tacking a new habit on to an existing habit. It's a sneaky way to make the new habit part of your usual routine. For example, it may be an automatic habit of yours to grab a coffee at the start of your work day. Use this as a cue to also get a glass of water with that coffee. Or, make putting a bottle of water by your bed part of your usual night time routine, so that it's ready and in sight first thing in the morning to serve as a reminder to drink. If the cue is there, it will make the action become habit much easier. So why not give it a go if you're struggling with making simple changes, and see if it helps you.

As always, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about this or anything else!

Dealing with failure

I loved my first 12 weeks with my trainer teaching me how to train with weights effectively. I learnt some movements I had never done before, but more often, I learnt how to correctly execute movements which I had thought I already knew. Once I had form down we'd gradually increase the load in order to progress. The rule was, if I could complete 12 - 15 reps for multiple sets with good form then I would up the weight. With consistently training 3 times a week (and diet changes) I was able to increase the weight quite regularly without a huge amount of struggle. I wouldn't say it was with ease but I was definitely walking out of the gym smiling and feeling pretty pleased with myself (most days anyway). If this was how it was going to be for the entire journey, it was going to be a sweet ride! (Yay for the anatomical adaptation phase!)

Alas, this isn't the case anymore. Things have got a lot more challenging! The best way I can explain where I am right now is that it feels as if I've reached an intensity (as in a heavier weight range) that makes me think holy sh*t this is actually quite tough. I wasn't quite prepared for this and some training sessions left me feeling frustrated and disappointed in myself. Especially if I couldn't complete the target number of reps for certain exercises. My brain was thinking; what was happening to me? Where had my strength gone? WTF, I am not used to failing!

I'll explain what I mean using the momentous deadlift as an example. My progression from 12kg KB hip hinges to 35kg barbell deadlifts was a smooth ride with fairly linear increments of weight over the 12 weeks. All good stuff as you'd expect! But, it just so happens for me that now I've reached 40kg, things are a bit different. It actually hurts, I struggle, and I fail. (I blame my poor grip strength for this particular exercise to be honest.)

My options? Carry on feeling like shit and potentially give up, or, accept that this isn't meant to be easy and stick at it until it is. I'm going for the latter, I had my strop and I'm over it. I'm not too concearned that I'm not increasing the weight on the bar with each session anymore and I'm just going to work on these 40kg DLs every week until I can complete my full 12-15 reps for 4 sets fairly comfortably. It might take longer than the ideal, but hey, every body is different and patience is key!

In addition, as I've identified my grip as a limitation for the progression of some exercises, I did a bit of extra research on how to increase grip strength. I now incorporate a couple of extra exercises to my routine each time I'm at the gym to help.

So there you go - it's a cycle of pushing yourself, failing, hard work and improvement - but it's all with an upwards trend on the progression chart, and that's what it's all about.

Anyway, I hope I didn't make too many people laugh at the fact that I'm struggling with a 40kg DL!

My experience with the "Keto Diet"

Readers who know me, or have read my previous posts, will know that I have tried a variety of different diets over the years in an attempt to lose the stubborn fat from certain areas of my body. To clarify, I have never been overweight, or in fact any bigger/heavier than I am right now. I've just been stuck on wanting to get back to my pre-university, size 8 body.

So, in my mid twenties during the lead up to Christmas 2016, I stumbled across the ketogenic (or "keto") diet. I've decided to write about it now as I've noticed the diet has gained popularity more recently - for both good and bad reasons. As with anything that fascinates me, I spent a good few hours researching how it worked and the science behind it first (I'm an all or nothing kinda gal). If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, here's a really simplified explanation from bodybuilding.com:

The idea is that you eat a strict low carb & high fat diet which is designed to result in 'ketosis'. This is when your body uses fat to produce fuel molecules called ketones when blood sugar (glucose) is in short supply. It's suggested that when in ketosis, fat stores are more easily burnt, resulting in fat loss.

Eat fat to lose fat. I was convinced so I gave it a go...

I used MyFitnessPal to track my macronutrients, I was surprised at how quickly I was reaching my carbohydrate limit. 0-10g of carbs is not much at all. It was fine(ish) giving up the bad/processed carbs, but it was very strange to me to have to limit consumption of fruit and vegetables as well, I was eating very little fiber. A plus side for me was eating more foods high in fat. It did seem to fill me up and keep me satisfied, even in small amounts. I tracked my calories as I knew fat is higher in calories per gram than carbohydrates, so I wanted to be careful not to go over my recommended allowance. I never did, if anything, I was actually eating fewer calories than before.

A couple of months in and I'd reached the lowest weight I'd ever been in my twenties: 58kg. I felt pretty pleased. But in reality, I'm pretty sure most of the weight that I'd lost came from muscle and water mass, it could even have been a result of eating fewer calories in general. I can't say what would have happened if I'd stuck with the diet for a longer period of time, but, I decided the keto diet was not for me. I wasn't exercising very much, I had little energy and I'd bloat if I had a 'cheat meal'. I wouldn't recommend it to other active, healthy people either. Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy, and we need to be consuming them, preferably in the form of whole foods like beans, potatoes, grains, in order to perform at our best.

The power of change

Today I lifted some weights and then ate a carby meal. Just like I have been doing 3 times a week for about 8 weeks now. My diet now includes potatoes, beans, rice and other whole grains. All the good carbs, as in, unprocessed or complex carbs - mostly).

My homemade veggie chilli :)

So what? you're probably thinking.

Well, rewind a year or so and I would have done my 30-45 minutes of medium to high intensity cardio, like I did 5 days a week, maybe followed by downing a protein shake. Oh yes, and I avoided carbs like the plague. I did this for a looooong time. Guess where that got me! Yeah not far.

I'm now eating more than I probably ever have, while this is still a mental struggle for me (after years of believing I should be eating less and less), I feel 10x better in myself than before. More energy, better workouts, and I'm definitely stronger, healthier and happier. Oh, and I haven't weighed myself in a long time, because, quite frankly, who cares what the scales say when you feel this awesome. Progress doesn't always have to be visible.

Bottom line is, your routines/habits/beliefs have to change if you want to progress. More to the point, you have to allow them to change (hi, my name's Captain Obvious). Trust in change even if it scares you, it could be the best thing you ever do.

Willpower and small wins

A tub of chocolate mini rolls are staring me in the face on the counter next to my desk at the office.

They've been there all week (it's Wednesday now) and the past two days I have given in and eaten a couple after my slightly sad looking Tupperware salad. If I were to take my own advice, I wouldn't feel guilty for eating them, after all I clearly made the conscious decision myself to pick them up and put them in my mouth. But the difference here is, is that I know if they weren't in sight, in arms reach - I literally didn't even have to stand up out of my chair to grab them - it absolutely wouldn't have happened.

It's realising this now that will stop me from eating any more. Me being the stubborn person I am, will not move them to another part of the office in an attempt to hide them - although it's probably a good idea to be honest - I'll instead exercise my willpower and resist them for the remainder of the week. After all, willpower is like a muscle - the more you use it, the stronger it will become. If I get to the end of the week without having touched the mini rolls, I'll count this as a small win for the week and will feel pretty good about it. Like I said in my last post, it's the small wins that will add up to bigger successes.

On that note actually, I was asked by my trainer yesterday what has been a win for me over the past week in my health and fitness journey - as well as being put on the spot, nothing immediately sprung to mind, which wasn't a great start let's be honest. I hadn't particularly had an outstanding week of healthy eating (hence the mini rolls fiasco), and I didn't manage to get to the gym as much as I should have done due to personal reasons. The point being, it's much easier for us to dwell on failures or things we haven't done so well, than appreciate the positive things we've achieved.

So, I've decided to start jotting down in my note pad anything that I have accomplished that I can feel proud of. Not to necessarily show or tell anyone, but again to keep my mind on track and stay positive. Hopefully by the end of the week I can proudly say that I successfully resisted reaching for those damn chocolate treats at work!