Back to the real world

We are back from hols today and back to work for me tomorrow - boo.  But more importantly - back to the gym tomorrow night.  All in all I didnt do too bad these hols but i'm really looking forward to getting back into it.  I want to feel energised again and strengthen up my back and shoulders as I am suffering from extreme back aches.  So, I am going to set out my long term goals and break them down into mini goals and check them off as I go. I will post this in the next few days.
I am also doing a Project Life inspired by Libby and Jackie and will post piccies of this as I do them.
The kids still have 2 more weeks of our Christmas hols so things wont go back to normal until February.  I will also devote more time to blogging this year! and post more pics coz I think blogs are pretty boring without pics so i will finish this post with a piccie of what we saw everyday on hols ...

This was taken at Corrimal beach around 6.30pm on an overcast day - very peaceful for an afternoon walk
Cheers,
Amanda

Holidays

We are on hols - yay - the first of the year for me.  We are down the coast, on the beach, lots of sun, sand, cheese plates and beers.  I am doing surprisingly good this year.  Usually by the end of the hols I cannot fit into any of my shorts and have gone from bikini top to tankini top to cover the bloated bulges!!!
This year (apart from christmas/boxing day) i'm sticking to bodytrim diet (one serve of carbs a day) and am drinking low carb beer.  Have only had one cheese plate so far and didnt eat the crackers.  However, my cal intake is higher than normal due to the beers.  Each Tooheys White Stag beer is only 3g carbs, 0 fat, 100 cals - not bad until you have half a dozen!!!! thats half my daily cal intake!! beer free day today (I hope).

Don't Faint !

I am posting - don 't faint !!!  i am such a bad blogger but really i have made no progress weight loss wise and in fact am worse off.  My reason - not excuse - is socialising and drinking.  Being a busy mum of 3 and working nearly full time (like many women) who would want to pass up an opportunity to kick back, unwind, catch up with fab friends, have a few drinks and have some fun?????
So i find myself in the predicament of running out of time.  Its just over 4 weeks til chrissy and for us aussies that means kids are on school hols for 6 weeks, its our summer and its bikini time.  We will go away to our van down the south coast and literally live on the beach for a few weeks.  Eeeeeeeek!
So i'm going back to what works for me - Bodytrim.  An aussie personal trainer is making a bomb with his no/low carb programme and ive done it before with success.  It basically getting your body into ketosis. This is for fat loss only - not for building.  I will do a bit of weight training just to keep the muscle i have but concentrating on the fat loss.  Its also non cardio - he recommends only walking.  All the work is done in the kitchen.
Day 2 and a piece of cake (hahahaha) so far. This is what i'm eating:-
M1  6 egg white omlette with onions, zuccinis and mushrooms, coffee
M2  mini protein bar and coffee
M3  100g slice of chicken meatloaf (chicken mince, egg whites, spices and bake in loaf tin) and brocoli
M4  fat free chilli tuna and cauliflower mash
M5  beef casserole (extra lean rump steak strips, capsicum, zuccinis, spice, curry powder in croc pot til tender) with brocoli
M6  mini protein bar and tea
you can have one serve of carbs a day and i have opted for allbran cereal (to keep me regular) but i didnt have that today.  I will probably have that 1 hour before my workout to give me energy. Tomorrow i will include flaxseed oil, glucosamine tablets and super krill oil tabs and maybe a multi.
I did a 45 minute incline interval treadmill walk at 6.4kmph and a few heavy sets on the adducter machine for my inner thighs.
I feel good and confident as i have done this successfully before - its a race against the clock!

Dinner Recipe

new recipe i tried for dinner and it was yum:-
steam and mash 1 small sweet potato (yam)
mix in 1 tab of fat free plain yoghurt, 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1 tsp dijon mustard, onion powder, pepper and mix well to get a creamy orange sauce.

saute onion, chopped carrots, chopped zuc and a few button mushrooms (as much or as little) in olive oil (optional) til soft.  add 2 cups cooked brown rice.  add this mix to the orange sauce.  add 200g drained tuna and mix well.

transfer into a baking dish and bake for 20 mins on medium.  serves 4.  original nutrients per serve were excellent but i tweaked the original recipe to make it lower in fat and more in veg so not sure exact numbers.  Its a good base - you could add herbs, curry, different veg, less rice, chicken instead of tuna etc.

This fits in with jamie's serve of protein, complex carb and veg meal.  I hope someone tries it - let me know what you think (even my 12 yo daughter loved it !!)

seeya!!!

I really dont know how people can eat junk food all the time!  I have been pretty slack lately, well ok, really bad lately and boy how i'm paying for it now.  Headaches, tired, listless, thirsty, unmotivated, sore stiff muscles, bloated stomach, yuk.  Hubby is away for a week for work so I cant go to the gym.  My plan?  Home workouts - pumped up the swiss ball that will act as my bench and incline bench so i can do any exercises for dumbbells.  I am roughly following Jamie Eason's 12 week challenge (jumping in at phase 2) so I will adapt her weights to dumbbell exercises.  The only thing I cant do is cardio (with my back/pelvis problems I can only do tready or xtrainer) so I will plonk myself in front of the telly (in between car pooling for kids sports etc) and do lots of weights.
Food will be a bit different.  I basically did Jamie's diet previously and it got so monotonous I got bored and craved something tastier (aka junk). I just did meat/chicken and steamed veg - I dont know how you comp girls do it - a big hats off to you all !!! So im trying some recipes out of Aussie oxygen mag and its basically within the parameters of her diet.  For example, orange quinoa salad - cold cooked quinoa with onion, celery, tomatoes and any other veg and the dressing of orange zest, juice, flaxseed oil, pepper - basically its complex carb and veg.  Also chicken florentine - fillets baked in a tin of crushed tomatoes, italian herbs, garlic, a few olives, baby spinach, topped with a little parmesan cheese (optional).  Add that to the orange quinoa salad and its protein, complex carb and veg!  It just doesnt seem like it! I'll post the good recipes.  I also stumbled upon the blog The Bikini Baker so i'll try some of her recipes. So, lots of prep, inspiration and motivation needed to get on track.  I didnt lose the plot totally! I still fit into my jeans, they're just a bit snug !!!! Here's some inspiration ......



 One day .........

Have a fit and fab week everyone !

Time is flying past and i feel like i'm being left behind!! I now work full time - well sort of.  I work school hours 5 days a week and with driving Brooke to dancing 3 nights a week, Daniel and Kurt at the orthodontist every fortnight, kids hair cuts this week, Kurt now having to go to the hand specialist/blood tests/x-rays, birthday parties - i'm feeling a bit out of control.  I havent been to the gym for nearly 2 weeks (suffered headaches last week), we went away on Friday arvo when the kids got home from school for the weekend to our place down the south coast (organised food, clothes, tried to leave the house tidy before we left) and then came home sunday morning for a footy luncheon and felt very rushed.  The washing still has to be done, school clothes organised, dinners to be cooked and food in the pantry for lunches and recesses.  I wish we could pop a pill for dinners and wear disposable clothes!!!
This week the parents are invited to watch Brooke's dance classes so no gym tonight.  So tomorrow night i'll go to the gym early and go and watch dancing, then off to have nails done at 9.15pm!!!
Anyway, enough rambling, "back to it" is this week's mantra!!!
Have a good productive week everyone!

Just plodding along! Doing lots of heavy weights to failure *yay*. Havent done cardio for 2 weeks coz i hurt my lower back then had a flemmy chest that just made me cough when i went on the cross trainer - i sounded like a 50 a day smoker!!
Back into cardio today. Did 4 x 10 (failure) each of chest, back and abs then 5 mins of cardio, then repeat the whole thing 4 times (different exercises each round). Did mountain climber (hate that machine) then crosstrainer - 5 mins including 4 x 30 seconds of hiit each time.
Eating really good except weekend treat - i know, i know - i gotta get over this weekend thing! Have been reading jamie eason's 12 week challenge on bodybuilding.com. she's giving me inspiration - its basically what i'm doing now anyway. i've just got to be more consistant on the weekends.
A lady in the shops yeterday told me there's 16 weeks til christmas - eeks !!!! Is that a 16 week challenge i hear in the background!!!!!
Have a great week everyone :)