Being real with you

Okay, I made this blog to connect with other people who are in a similar position as me, as well as to try and motivate myself. I promised myself I would always be 100% honest in every single one of my blog posts. This is why I am writing this particular post on my past week.

In the past, lets say 5 days, I have struggled. Big time. Not just with my food choices, but exercising. I have not been able to motivate myself to get up and do anything. ANYTHING. Not even a walk. I have been eating multiple chocolate biscuits a day, cake, hot chips, chocolate bars - everything that I normally would only eat maybe once a week at most. I honestly don't know why this has come over me this past week but I am seriously in struggle time.

Today I did 2 Tone It Up toning routines so that was a start. I am going to give myself a few more days to fully get over this downstage and hit the ground running (literally!!) on Monday.

Monday I plan on meal prepping my meals for the week, going on a 3km run and 2 x Tone It Up toning workouts. I'll fill you in on Monday and let you know how I go!

Also, is there anything you all want me to write about? I plan on documenting my workouts everyday and posting them on my tumblr (http://fitspirationuniverse.tumblr.com/), but if there is anything - ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING - you guys want me to talk about let me know :)

Kayla Itsines week 2 review

Ok so I am going to have to be honest with you, i'm really struggling with the BBG. I am struggling to fit in the demanding circuits into my workout routine. I already do personal training, pilates, running, spin, and netball so there is not much time to fit all of the circuits into my routine! 

As mentioned in a previous post, I started week 2 again last week and I still didn't get around to do it!! I've decided to just use the circuits whenever I feel like completing one and will just pick and choose which weeks workout I will complete!

I feel like Kayla's BBG is purely for people who are struggling with a particular exercise routine and need more workout structure in their life. So if that sounds like you, I would definitely recommend it. If you are like me and already have a structure regarding your weekly workouts, it might be a waste of money for you. I think i just chose the wrong time in my life to give this program a proper go.

I love the circuits that Kayla has put together and they are perfect for all levels of fitness, because trust me I was puffing and sweating. 

Anyway, on to week 2 of the BBG. Week 2 (also used for week 4), is similar to week 1 just a few new exercises. I loved loved the incorporation of skipping! I love including skipping in my workouts, because as mentioned in a previous post, it is just so good for your fitness! So that definitely put a smile on my face when I saw that. Some of the new exercises I wasn't quite sure how to do so a video from Kayla explaining them would have been great, but there wasn't so I just had to you tube them and see an explanation! My favourite workout of the week was definitely Arms & Abs. I love working my abs and I don't know why! There is also a compulsory full body workout this week which was really well balanced and I could feel it all over the next day! 

This week I am going to try my hardest to stick to Kayla's workout guidelines including her three circuits with cardio in between. Will let you know how it goes next week :)

Clean eating

Following on from my previous post, I thought I should just give you all my take on what 'clean eating' means to me. I know we all hear this word being tossed around social media, but what does it really mean? Many people think that clean eating means just eating greens and smoothies. This is NOT true.

My understanding of clean eating is having a BALANCED diet incorporating proteins, carbohydrates, and yes, FATS! Eating small amounts of fats is so so important to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. Healthy fats such as peanut butter, avocados, dark chocolate (my absolute favourite) are all perfect examples of what should be included in your diet!

The things that you should be limiting and ultimately excluding from your diet (in my point of view) are saturated fats and processed foods! These include your chocolate bars, takeaway foods, chips, a lot of different spreads, butter, oils etc.! So many unnecessary calories and fats in these foods that your body just does not want or need to ingest. 

When I consider 'clean eating' this is what I will include in my diet:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Limited amounts of pasta
• Proteins (I mainly get my proteins from chicken - yummmy) 
• Dark chocolate
• Peanut butter
• Porridge 
• Protein pancakes
• Green tea or any herbal tea
• Salads
• Smoothies (personal fave is the original strawberry and banana!)
• Occassional cheat meals (MODERATION IS KEY)
• Rye bread

That's all I can think of right now, but trust me clean eating is purely about MODERATION, PREPARATION and BALANCE. You don't have to restrict yourself from your favourite treats, as long as the rest of your diet is clean and well-balanced, as well as your exercise routine - all is well! Just because you want that good summer body, doesn't mean you get to miss out the best things in life - such as chocolate!! From just one week of clean eating, as listed above, I lost 2.9% body fat!!! It just shows you how important nutrition is during your fitness journey :)

If you have any questions about your nutrition, post them below and i'll get back to you :) 

Remember - the key to your ideal body is 80% diet, 20% fitness!

Meal preparation

It's quite easy to just say to yourself 'yeah i'm going to eat really healthy from now on'. Trust me, I say this nearly everyday. But believe it or not, if you are not well prepared to eat healthier foods, you just won't. I know that when i come home from a big day at Uni, or if i've just had a bad day, the last thing that I want to do is cook lunch or dinner.  A few days ago I went out to Coles and bought a whole lot of chicken, brown rice, veggies and some other healthy things. 

I put together a whole list of recipes and meals that I would be happy eating for lunch and dinner a few times a week. I cooked up a few pieces of chicken (just with some chicken seasoning) put a piece in a few different containers. I also bought some small containers of brown rice which you just put into the microwave for about a minute and it's cooked! So I put a serve of brown rice with the chicken, added some green veggies and done! There's some lunches and dinners that I can just grab throughout the week!

 I still live at home with my mum, dad and two brothers, so most of the time I will still eat dinner with them (whatever mum has cooked), it's just times when they have takeaway or anything like that I will eat one of my prepared meals. 

It's a good idea if you are going to start eating healthier, to go out to the supermarket with a list of a whole lot of foods that you WILL eat (you need to ensure you like the types of foods you buy, so they don't just sit in the cupboard!), and prepare what and when you will eat the foods. If you aren't very busy, it is best to cook the meal on the day of consumption, but if you are very busy (like me), the easiest way to ensure you eat the healthy meals is to prepare ahead. 

I always see photos of people who have meal prepped, and all of there meals are the same. To me that is just so boring, and I will not be able to enjoy what I eat. Variety is key! If you get bored with your meals, mix it up! Use different flavourings on your meat, different veggies, different sides (like switch between brown rice, sweet potato fries and whatever else you like!). 

If you have any questions about meal prepping, just ask them below and I can help you out :)
Below are some photos that I found on Instagram of other people's meal preps. 

Kayla Itsines week 1 review

So it's been a bit over a week now of doing Kayla Itsines BBG. I have to be honest with you, I have struggled to complete the required workouts due to other fitness and work commitments. It's been hard for me to keep up with all the required workouts as I have a personal trainer, train at the Westpac Centre in the city twice a week and do pilates twice a week! So it's been a big struggle to fit in another 3 circuits and other cardio! 

I plan to reset and start Week 2 properly on Monday. Training at the Westpac Centre has stopped now, and pilates is getting a bit too expensive so I have cut down on the amount of pilates I am doing. So hopefully now I can fully engage in the BBG and start feeling good again!

I have really struggled with my diet over the past two weeks, I have seen my muscle % decrease and body fat % increase by up to 2%!!! I have been exercising everyday, so it must be my diet that is completely letting me down. I plan to visit a dietician soon to try and get a meal plan sorted as well as increase my knowledge about nutrition and my body's requirements.

My personal trainer has already taught me about nutritional labels and what they mean so I will do another post on that if people want me too :) 

I just thought I should fill you all in on whats been going on with my Kayla Itsines BBG training. But it is okay to have some off weeks just to help reset your body and get stuck into training 100% bigger, better and stronger next week! Everyone has times when your diet goes south and you just can't stop eating chocolate or having a bit too much to drink, but as long as it is balanced and you are able to counteract the behaviour with some exercise and healthy eating - it is okay!

Sleep sleep sleep!!

I would normally never even begin to associate sleep with weight loss. I always just slept for at least 10 hour a night because I liked too! But it has been suggested by studies in major academic journals that sleep loss can increase hunger and affect the body's metabolism ultimately making it more difficult to maintain or lose weight! 

They suggest that sleep loss can affect the secretion of cortisol (a hormone that helps regulate appetite) and as a result you can continue to feel hungry despite being full! Sleep loss also can increase fat storage, as it interferes with the body's ability to metabolize carbs! This can result in high levels of blood sugar which leads to the overproduction of insulin in the body and can lead to the storage of body fat.

The studies also show that the level of sleep can also affect the body's proportions of fat and muscle. Lower amounts of deep sleep has shown reduced level of growth hormones which is the hormone that helps regulate the body's fat and muscle percentage. 

So how can you improve your sleep?

• Don't eat a big meal before bedtime (approx. 2 hours before)
• Exercise during the day, not before bedtime (no more than 3 hours before), exercise helps make you feel tired, well at least for me anyway!
• Don't drink caffeine or alcohol right before bed or in the late afternoon
• Don't nap! I'm a sucker for a nana nap in the afternoon, but if you are struggling to sleep 10 hours don't do it! 
• Remove all electronics from your room, looking at a bright screen before trying to sleep wakes the brain up and makes it so much harder for you to fall asleep
• Make sure all the lights are off and it's nice and quiet
• I always read for about half an hour before I go to sleep and I find it really helps settle me down and get in the right mindset to sleep!
  
  So tonight before you go to bed, try these steps above and I promise you, you will have a much better, deeper sleep!

A killer workout - tabata style!

Tabata. Tabata. Tabata. Oh how much I love Tabata! Tabata training is a concept developed by Professor Izumi Tabata in 1996. It follows a 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 4 minutes principle. The 20 seconds 'on' is a full flat-out, maximal heart rate 20 seconds and a complete rest for 10 seconds. The 10 seconds rest allows your heart to drop a little bit, and then straight back into an all-out 20 seconds. Tabata training can be used with any type of exercise; running, bike riding, circuit exercises (such as burpees, push-ups, lunges). 

The study of tabata

Professor Tabata used two groups of people for his trials where one group cycled at a moderate pace five times a week for 60 minutes and the other did 20 seconds of flat-out work followed by 10 seconds rest for 4 minutes, five times a week. Over the six weeks, the group following the Tabata group improved their aerobic and anaerobic fitness (increased up to 28%). The group of people just cyling at a moderate pace for an hour did see some improvements in their aerobic fitness but none in their anaerobic fitness. This is where the principle of 'Tabata' was developed. 

Benefits of tabata

• Transforms your body & fitness levels fast
• Gets you fitter faster (better than an hour of steady state exercise)
• Burns more calories in a shorter time, especially because you keep on burning calories for up to 12 hours after you exercise!
•  If you are anything like me, this will keep you exercising longer as it stops you getting bored!

 Some example tabata workouts 

One of the most simple but effective forms of tabta workouts is on the treadmill. When I incorporated tabata treadmill training into my workouts, I would run at 14km/h on an incline of 2. It doesn't feel hard for the first few rounds - and then all of a sudden you can't breathe you're so exhausted!! 

Some more ideas:

 So next time you do a workout, try and incorporate some tabata into your session and tell me how it goes! I know you'll love it.