Not Blogged for a while!

Hi blog land, I haven't been blogging for a while, what with being ill and then having a few isues at home that needed my full attention I haven't had the time.

Foodwise I've been good and stuck within my 1700 calories per day. My splits have been awful though and far too many high carb days with not much protien so I need to refocus on this. Yesterday I started back on my protein powders after taking a few weeks break whilst I had the flu so hopefully this will improve my protein levels.

Exercise again has been poor, last week I managed to do a 3 mile run, 2 full body weight sessions and then a 6.3mile run. I was so pleased that I actually managed to increase my distance as I have been stuck at the 5.5 mile mark for ages. I did intend to do 6 miles but I added an extra bit on and it took me to 6.3, I'm gutted that I didn't add another bit on and make it 6.5 now but I will this week or next. This week I have come down with yet another cold (I think I went back to work and exercise far too quickly and didn't recover properly) so I have taken it easy this week and haven't done anything. I'm starting to feel much better albeit a little snotty still so I think I'm going to ease myself gently with an exercise bike session tonight. I know I shouldn't do but I'm really getting itchy feet about not doing anything.

By resting up I've been thinking a lot lately about goals and what I really want to achieve resulting in me thinking about my training. I'm fairly happy with my weight and shape but I really need to sharpen up those wobbly bits and I'm wondering whether I would be more beneficial doing 3 weight sessions and 2 runs rather than the other way around. Part of me knows the answer if I want to achieve a more definied and toned look then I need do to this but I do enjoy my running and making fantastic progress (even if I do say so myself). Also the other part of me is scared stiff, for almost 2 years its all been about weight and what the scales say and it scares me that I would potentially go up in weight. Why does it always matter what the scales say if we're making improvements to our size and shape?!

Also its been 4 weeks since I took my first set of photos and if I'm brave I may post them. I don't think I've made any progress as I've effectively had 2 weeks out of the 4 but I shall do them regardless.

Food yesterday was:

B: Protein shake with 100ml of milk, 45g of oats with water and 50g of raspberries
S: Trek bar
L: 200g chicken breast, 28g (dried weight) of cous cous and salad follwed by 135g of strawberries and 75g of greek yogurt
S: 25g of almonds
D: 2 eggs & 3 egg whites ommlette with 2 mini babybels and mushrooms with a large side salad.
S: 2 oatcakes with 5g of almound butter and 2 homemade oat bars

Total calories: 1717
Protein: 155g (36.1%)
Carbs: 156g (36.3%)
Fat: 52g (27.3%)

I'm pleased with my split today.

Back tomorrow to report on my weigh day and potentially my progress pics

What a day!

My son has been a little tinker today, he's poorly and teething all in one and hasn't stopped crying or wanting cuddles all day. I was so fed up and drained from it this morning I almost blew the diet as I really really wanted comfort food. Also hubby is still not right and I was secretly hoping he was going to say that he wanted a pizza for tea or some cake but thankfully didn't or otherwise I would have felt guilty.

I haven't managed to do as much as I wanted today with regards to housework but the house is looking much better and I can relax a little. I'm very strange I just can't seem to relax on the sofa in a messy house I like it to be tidy.

Despite my urge for comfort food I have been good toay.

B: 60g of oats and 100ml of skimmed milk and 100ml of water
S: Cocoa Brownie Trek bar
L: 2 eggs and 2 egg whites on toast
S: Oatcakes topped with 50g of greek yogurt and 75g of strawberries
D: 170g chicken breast stuff with 2 babybell lights, 235g of dried baked potato wedges and salad
S: 30g of almonds

Calories: 1719
Protein: 126(29%)
Carbs: 181g (42%)
Fat: 55g (29%)

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt an easy exercise bike session to ease me back into exercise before my run I'm planning on Monday. Lets just hope I can do it and not have a coughing fit.

Had my naughty meal for the weekend now must stay on track!

Well my first day back at work and then having to travel across the other side of town to pick up the little man we were not in the mood to cook. Hubby said (which was very naughty of him as he is contest diet mode or supposedly) shall we get a KFC on the way home. Well I agreed as I couldn't be bothered and ended up having a Fillet Tower meal...whoops! Didn't go massively over my calories for the day so not too worried. And besides I'm allowed a little treat after my fantastic 5.6lbs weight loss surely?!

Food for today is:

B: 60g oats with 100ml of skimmed milk and 100ml of water
S: 2x small flax muffins courtesy of JAG's receipes
L: 170g chicken breast, 25g cous couse and salad followed by 80g strawberries and 80g greek yogurt
S: 30g almonds
D: KFC fillet tower meal

Calories: 1875
Protein: 120g (25.6%)
Carbs: 166g (35.4%)
Fat: 80 (38.4%)

A bit high on the fat but other than that not bad seeing as it was a treat/cheat meal!

I'm still not really well enough to do exercise but may do a gentle exercise bike session tomorrow or Sunday and see how it goes and hopefully I'll be back out running next week.

Finally coming back to the land of the living!

Hi blog land

I’m back in the land of the living…just! This flu bug has knocked me for six and I have just been so poorly in fact the whole G family have been poorly. Anyway I dragged my sorry butt back into work today and so has hubby and we’ve left the little man with the MIL.

Well since my last post I put on 1.5lbs on the Friday which was very much expected, albeit it very disappointing, due to AF due to be putting in her appearance the following week.

Food wise last week I haven’t been too bad but I really haven’t been bothered to cook very much and have lived off porridge. I absolutely love porridge and it is my real comfort and warming food. I stuck around 1,500 calories a day apart one day where I got chip shop pie and chips as I just wanted stodge! But I didn’t feel guilty I just drew a line under it and started a fresh the day after. Normally I spend days feeling guilty about having a naughty meal and then end up punishing myself with exercise but that didn’t/couldn’t happen this time.

Talking of exercise I haven’t now been able to exercise for over 10 days. I know the rest has done me good but I’m starting to get itchy feet and can’t wait to get back into some kind of routine. In fact my whole life back into a routine, my house is a complete mess and we have no decent food in the house and my washing/ironing is mounding up. I’m going to spend the weekend spring cleaning, shopping and planning my meals for next week. I just feel like I’m drowning with jobs to do around the house.

On to today’s weigh in…wait for it….I lost a whopping 5.6lbs! It means that last week’s 1.5lbs gain wasn’t true weight and AF bloat but it also means I’ve lost a further 4lbs this week. I’m now at my lowest since I was under 10 years of age at 9stone 7.8lbs. I know I’ve been ill but surely c1500 a day plus one day at 2500 and no exercise wouldn't result in that kind of loss?! I must now try and be as good as possible as I don’t want too much to go back on next week if nothing at all. I have nothing planned this weekend even with it Valentines Day as hubby is trying to be as good as possible on his contest diet so it looks like another chicken salad for me tea. I must really come up with some alternatives to chicken and chilli. So blog land do we have any plans for Valentines Day? Are your other halfs treating you to something nice? I’m lucky if I’ll get a card let alone a bunch of flowers…hey ho!

Why oh why am I starting to get obsessed with the scales again!

I had this problem a while a go and I started to combat it and now I seem to be going down hill again. Not only have I gone to weighing twice a day, I'm letting it control my mood. I have been slowly putting on weight all week and its been getting me really down. I've only put on 0.75lbs (so far as its weigh day Friday) but it might as well been 7.5lbs the way its been making me feel. I know in the grand scheme of things its hardly nothing but I'm working my ass off for what?! I know that its TOTM due this weekend so that most probably explains it but its really knocked my motivation. I don't know whether its because I'm also coming down with a cold and now upset because its unlikely that I'll train tonight but I just feel like I'm running an up hill battle and going nowhere. Sorry for the self indulgent moan blog land, I'll snap out of it soon enough.

Anyway, yesterday I had a good day, I spent the day with my little man as his nursery was shut and we had great fun. I took him to a baby gym where we did trampolining and activities. Seeing the smile on his face of him having a great time melted my heart but also made me sad as I don't get to do things with him like this as I'm at work. Also we visited a friend in the afternoon with her little boy and it was lovely to sit and watch them play. As I was out and about all day I didn't really get chance to eat my calories. I had:

B: JAGs chocolate protein, almond butter and banana pancakes and boy they were delish. I took a photo and will upload it later. Also they set me up until lunch as they were so filling.
L: Beans on toast as I was in a rush
S: 30g almonds
D: 180g chicken breast with roasted veg
S: half an oat bar and 30g almonds

Calories: 1547
Protien: 136g (35.2%)
Carbss: 122g (31.5%)
Fat: 57 (33.2%)

My arms feel like jelly!

I just had a great full body workout. I had a really bad stomach ache and was thinking of not training tonight but hubby convinced me to give it a go and it may make me feel better and take my mind off of it so I did and I'm so pleased I wasn't lazy as I had a great workout, I was buzzing. My heart rate was really good and got up to 150bpm doing my squats. I also managed to up my weights to 25kg bar squats and hoping to up them again next week. I think some serious DOMS will be here tomorrow but I'm actually looking forward to it.

I have also been inspired from a few of JAGs receipes for the flax muffins and the choco crepes with almond butter so at lunchtime instead of just sitting at my desk I headed off to Holland & Barratt and bought all the ingredients I needed. I'm looking forward to trying them out tomorrow.

Food wise was also a good day

B: Protein shake with 100ml of skimmed milk followed by 40g oats and 3 egg whites pancake.
S: Oat bar
L: 100g chicken with 50g (dried weight) cous cous and salad followed by 100g strawberries and 75g of greek yogurt
S: 30g almonds
D: 2 quorn lamb grills with roasted veg
S: protein shake with 100ml of skimmed milk (post work out), oat bar and 30g almonds

Calories: 1697
Protein: 134g (31.6%)
Carbs: 162g (38.2%)
Fat: 52g (27.6%)
Exercise calories 189

Total calories: 1508

I have the day off work tomorrow as my little man's nursery is closed so looking forward to spending a day with him and visiting friends. Let's just hope I can stay on track whilst being out and about.

Good run but I was starving!

Yesterday I didn't have a great start to the day, my little man moved up groups in nursery so even though he is not quite two yet he is with the older children because of his size (he's very tall like daddy) as he was being a bit rough with the babies in the younger group. It was sad to drop him off as it was all unfamiliar to him and it was like his first day all over again. He screamed and called out mummy and was clinging around my neck. All I wanted to do was grab him and go home but I knew he had to do this. It is so hard having to work fulltime when you want to be with your children but needs must and I must keep on thinking that I'm doing it for the good of my family to make a better future for us all. With that in mind it put me on a downer all day, all I wanted to do was comfort eat as I was worried about him. I didn't want to phone and check up on him and sound like a neurotic mother so I just clocked watched until I could go and get him. As it turned out after he got over his paddy in the morning he was absolutely fine and loved playing with new toys. This morning I dropped him off and he had a bit of a tantrum but as soon as they mentioned Peppa Pig he smiled and said bye mummy. So that's it I'm second best to Peppa Pig!!

Anyway I wasn't going to let me emotions control my eating so I stuck to the plan:

B: Protein shake with 100ml of skimmed milk. Porridge oat pancake with 50g oats, 3 egg whites and 200ml of water
S: Oat bar
L: 100g chicken, 50g (dried weight) cous cous and salad followed by 80g strawberries
S: 30g almonds and protein shake with 100ml of skimmed milk (post run)
D: left over chilli from yesterday
S: 3...yes 3! oat bars

Calories: 1799
Protein: 144g (32%)
Carbs: 209g (46.5%)
Fat: 41g (20.5%)

Exercise cals: 451

Total calories: 1348

My run was great, a 4 miler with 1 mile hill, 1 mile decline, 1 mile hill and 1 mile decline. At one point I was steaming away, I felt great. Also my HR was lower than usual, I'm normally puffing away at 180 bpm but yesterday didn't really go much above 173 bpm and I knocked a min off my time. It seriously took some motivation to get out though as all I wanted to do was put my pjs on and cuddle up on the sofa but I knew all I had to do was get out there and I'll be back showered in my pjs on the sofa within the hour so thought didn't have an excuse not to go.

After my dinner I was still starving so I had 3 oat bars. I don't know what was a matter with me but decided to go bed or otherwise I would have finished off the batch of 10 I baked.

Weekend over far too quickly

Hi blog land

Its Monday morning and I'm back to the working grind stone...boo!

Looking back from my last post, I can't believe I didn't update you all but I had lost half a pound. OK it doesn't sound like a lot but its a loss. I ate the calories for half a pound loss but didn't eat my exercise calories and burnt enough for another half a pound loss so I would ideally liked a pound but we know the body never quite works that way, even though the maths was right the body just didn't want to let go of that last bit.

Saturday I went out for my 5 mile run in a light dusting of snow. It was so cold and at one point going up a hill I felt like I was running on the spot. My HR went up to 189 so I knew I was working hard. According to my HRM I burnt 590 calories. I managed to average out at a 9min 20 sec mile though so was pleased. My morning runs on an empty stomach seems to be so much quicker than my evening runs. Not sure why that its as you would have thought I would have more energy on the evenings from the calories eaten. I've done 2 weeks at 5 miles for my long run so next week I'm going to up it to 5.5 miles.

Food wise saturday was good:

B: Chocoloate protein shake with oats and egg whites with water blitzed up in batter and made into pancakes - delious!
S: protein oat bar
L: 2 eggs, 2 egg whites on 2 wholemeal slices of toast
S: 100g strawberries with 75g greek yogurt and 30g almonds
D: 2 Peppered quorn steaks with roasted veg followed by protein powder and greek yogurt
S: 30g of almonds

Calories: 1745
Protein: 140 (32.1%)
Carbs: 152 (34.9%
Fat: 60 (30.9%)

Food on a weekend now is so different compared to what it used to be. We would normally would have had at least 2 takeaways, McDs and pizza and then I would have normally sat in front of the TV with half a cheesecake and a glass of wine. I feel so much better though for not doing this and eating more cleanly.

Sunday was a well deserved rest day, I got up early with my son and watched the dreaded Cbeebies whilst we had breakie. I then worked out hubby's month 2 of his ripping plan for his contest. He is now starting to decrease his carbs so had to work out his menu for the next week. We then went out to our local market and bought loads of chicken breasts and fresh fruit and veg. We didn't do much in the afternoon bar a massive cook up of hubby's lunch boxes for the first half of the week and a load of ironing. I also had snuggles with my little man in bed in the afternoon where we both fell asleep for an hour. I love that time we get together and he's still and quiet LOL!

Sunday food was a bit carbulious:

B: Protein shake and oat pancakes
S: oat protein bar
L: 100g chicken, 50g bulgar wheat and salad
S: apple and 30g almonds
D: 150g extra lean beef chilli with 20g lentils and onions and pepers.
S: Skinny cow hot choc and 20g almonds

Calories: 1730
Protein: 124g (28.7%)
Carbs: 197g (45.5%)
Fat: 51g (26.5%)

Today (Monday) I feel boated and disgusting, I think its a combination that AF is on her dreaded way and that fact that my carbs were so high yestserday in comparison to what I have been having all week. I definitely need to try and cut these down some more and up the protein.