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!