Its time....

As most know a couple of years ago 2011/2012 I was pretty damn close to goal...in fact was only 3 kilos from it! Then I started to struggle...I couldnt lose the last bit of weight...I was doing huge amounts of exercise and only eating 1200-1300 calories. And then one day....I remember it so clearly....I was in Rundle Mall on the way to the gym on a saturday morning. Someone messaged me and said..."you should be eating more now you are close to goal, I would have thought you knew that" and then gave me a link to a post on myfitnesspal....which advocated eating more...doing heavy weight work. Prior to this I had a very set plan in my head. I calorie cycled and followed what Jillian outlays in her book "Master your metabolism". I ate very clean and aimed for organic food when I could, I cut out MOST of my artificial sweeteners (only had them in my diet cokes, mayonnaise and sour cream) everything else apart from milk I ate the full fat versions of. I ate very simply and to be honest ate the same foods most days LOL. Anyway MFP forums as i have said before were detriment to me....theres a lot of "it doesnt matter what you eat as long as you are in a calorie deficit"

Now...I KNOW im in a calorie deficit at the moment...there is no reason why i shouldnt be losing....but again since weigh in day the weight has gone up (by 400 grams as of this morning) it reminds me of back in 2009 how I plateaud out for 7 months! Then over xmas I read Jillians book, threw out my microwave (and my friends still give me chit over that to this very day) and I calorie cycled. Come 2010 from week 1....i was just a weight loss machine....i think i lost something like 12 kilos in the first 10 weeks and in just over a year I lost 50 kilos.

Now since I got back on track this time I have not been eating completely clean. Ive been having oven fries, diet coke (just like last time I dont plan at this stage to give up the diet coke), chocolate (and not 70% cocoa dark chocolate), cheese, processed chicken kiev, quest bars (while nothing is listed bad on quest bar packets...there is a lot of talk on the internet that their nutritional panel is not 100% accurate and whilst I dont necessarily believe that...it makes me sceptic), bbq shapes (admittedly only 25 grams at a time...but still!)

So I have been going back thru Jillians book today....and there was a motto i followed back then...i need to follow again "if it didnt have a mother or grow in the ground....dont eat it" So I want to for the next 10 days follow a very basic menu which will be:

breakfast : 40 grams of oats and 30 grams protein powder and 50 grams of berries
snack : 10 grams peanut butter and a banana
lunch : sandwich with burgen bread and 50 grams of turkey and a tablespoon of mayonnaise
snack :170 grams yoghurt with 5 grams shredded organic coconut
dinner : 150 grams roasted chicken with salad (mixed lettuce, roasted capsicum, some kaleslaw,
snack : 30 grams protein powder


That would put my calories at approximately 1320 calories and my sodium at 1423 mg. I believe we are lowering my cals to 1500 this week....so I could bump up the calories to hit the current 1650 or 1500 as of wednesday with some raw cashews and/or mandarin.

I do believe based on past experience my cals need to be down to 1500. Now i am not saying i eat exactly like this long term but i want to give it 10 days or so to see if it creates a difference.

The other thing is.....da da duh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, exercise. I have this very bad habit of if the scales go up I avoid the gym cos i think to myself....oh maybe its gone up from fluid retention from resistance work...ill give it a day or two to go down....which ultimately does me no favours and kinda highlights to me that i am way too focused on the scales.

I often remember how when I was stuck in  plateau for 7 months in 2009 and how at the time i felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing....that i decided this was going to become "my hobby" and so when something is a hobby not only do u like to watch videos, read books, blogs etc on it...but you like to DO it....and so the exercise has to become a bigger priority.

The more I do it....the easier it will become. So I believe the gym is open tomorrow...i intend to go in....i will work out a lil workout shortly for tomorrow. Then this week my aim will be :

monday : body balance plus PT plus 10km bike ride
tuesday : 30 minutes of my own workout (upper body) plus PT and body pump or 10km cycle
wednesday : my own workout (legs)
thursday : pump (or my own all over workout if i dont make it on time) and then i will decide if i have the guts to do a functional fit session lol or RPM
friday : 30 minute upper workout plus body pump and 10km cycle
saturday : 60 minute walk in the morning

I know its a lot of exercise...but its all completely doable...I use to many excuses....with the amount of exercise I did when on holidays I have proven to do more then I like to believe (thats the lazy girl in me)....I am single...while I know recovery is very important..doing a fast quick gym session just to come home and sit in front of the tv isnt getting me to goal...i know from experience that for me...i am the type that does need to do a fair bit of exercise....not saying that will make the scales move faster....but hopefully affect body change....and get my focus off the scales.

Some people may think this is all excessive....but the food....I just need to cut out the crap and get back to bare bone basics to help workout if its the food or my calorie budget thats preventing the losses...and exercise wise....well its just time to get off my ass in relation to that LOL.

Have a good saturday night all :)