My exercise and eating plan :)

I get questions at times in my FB inbox with questions on how I am doing things...I always reply (and am more then happy to reply) but I thought I might start using some of those questions as prompts for blogposts. Just keep in mind...i do what works for me...i am not saying what i do is right for anyone else but me....but its working so i will share ;)

So here is the first question:

Karyn,
I am amazed at your weight loss progress. What are you doing to lose weight. It appears to me that you are always in the gym or doing some kind of exercise. What kind of diet are you following. Please share if you would.

So firstly my diet. My diet has evolved from the days of when i started ww. When i started ww i ate a LOT of processed foods. At that stage i worked afternoon shift so was having dinner at work which meant things that were easy....every night i either ate subway or a dolmio frozen meal....and i remember tuesdays for lunch was always a big fat sausage roll!! lol Overtime ... late 2009/early 2010 i started to read up a lot on diet. Initially i started with Jillians book "Master your metabolism" which basically is about control your hormones and you will control your weight loss. And how do you do that? By cutting out processed foods! Then i read some books on how processed foods are designed to make you want more...and enter a never ending cycle and also how many healthy bought options really arent that healthy. I then started reading books on your "hunger cycles" and even ventured into reading on being a vegan. What i got from all these books was a few things....one i really needed to cut back on processed foods (or even elminate them)...two wherever possible i wanted to eat organic....three i understood more about WHY i get cravings at times and even allowing myself to "give in" (for want of a better word) at times to them and four i needed to focus on variety. Anyway my point is its kinda evolved. Last year i counted calories...i still count calories in essence but its thru my gyms eating program at the moment and is 1200-1500 calories per day. My average day looks like this"

breakfast : 1.5 weetbix + 1/4 cup natural muesli + 3/4 cup berries + 1 cup milk

snack : 1/2 cup cottage cheese + 1 slice of grain bread + 1 banana

lunch : 45 grams ham + 2 slices grain bread + salad + 1/2 tablespoon mayo

snack : protein shake made with 200mls milk

dinner : 120-170 grams protein + roasted tomatos (usually cherry tomatos, onions, capsicum, mushrooms etc) + 2 tablespoons uncook barley + teaspoon of olive oil

once or twice a week ill have a diet coke and saturday nights i splash out and have a yiros (i am a rebel i tell u!! lol)

I would never recommend someone just go eat what i eat....i would REALLY recommend making slow changes. As you can see from it tho...there is very lil processed food in my diet.

Sometimes with our eating we need to look outside the box...im not a big vegetable eater...i will never sit down to a serve of carrots, peas and pumpkin....but my roasted vegies i really love.

As to my exercise.....my shifts at work change every week so it does depend on my shifts. I do religiously always try to work in my 3 PT sessions per week...and if one week i can only make 2 sessions (which does happen at times) then ill organise 4 sessions the week before or the week after. As to what my PT sessions are...they have changed various times over the last 2.5 years....previously we have done core sessions...and boxing, both of them we arent doing at the moment. My big focus is currently cardio as it seems to really be helping shaping my body and getting some losses...so two sessions per week are cardio. Fiona basically throws me on different pieces of cardio equipment (rower, xtrainer, bikes, versaclimber, treadmill etc) and generally we do intervals....but we have also lately been doing lots with the rower -and lets not forget we do a lot of stair climbing too. Hate to say this out loud....cos its so not me....lol....but im kinda okay at the rower....so currently we just keep trying to increase my time on the rower rowing 2 kilometres. First time i did it was 9 mins 43 today i managed it in 8 mins 58 secs the ULTIMATE i guess would be under 8mins 30 seconds but i cant really see that happening lol. The other PT session per week is weight work and its a new program every 6 weeks. In relation to what else i do i like to do at least one body balance, one body pump and one body combat class in per week. Where possible i will fit in other classes and at least 1-2 times per week ill try and do interval running on the treadmill for 25 mins or so. And that is basically it. Really im not at the gym as much as everyone thinks (in fact i always feel like a hypocrite when people say i am a exercise nut...im not really....im just a nut ;) )...its only 4 days a week and to be honest i dont think its excessive and the never happy with me part of me constantly thinks i should increase it to 5-6 days per week....but they dont have any classes i really like on wednesday and fridays (body attack anyone???) which is why i avoid those days. And that is basically my eating and exercise plan....no huge secrets....and no over the top exercising (well not in my opinion) the one thing i would say tho....is it took me 2.5 years to work up to my exercise in the beginning i only did one PT session per week and that was the only day I entered the gym! A year ago i was only just starting to attend classes.

So there you have it .... thats my eating and exercise plan. If anyone does have any questions they would like my view on (and thats all it really is) leave a comment or send me a quick message to my FB inbox :)