One big fat run

Last night I was doing a little internet browsing......Let's be honest when aren't I? Anyway....I came across this site and LOVED the idea!

In a nutshell the idea is to eventually get over 1 million overweight women to be running 5K. The runs are held every month and you take part on your own, in a group or just with a running buddy. You can complete the 5K anyway you like as long as you complete it and upload a photo to social media!

I am in desperate need of something to keep me going at the minute as due to the fact my weightloss has well and truly stopped I'm feeling somewhat demotivated. So I'm planning on signing up for the August event.
I'm not in too bad shape so I figured I would use this as a bench mark for all other 5K's. This time I am doing it solely on my own, probably on a treadmill.......so watch this space for updates!

On another note I'm heading to Body Pump tonight for the first time in a long long time! It's the new release (BodyPump90) so figured now is as good as time as any to head back! Hoping that by shaking things up again my weight loss might get kick started again.

BODY COMBAT

Wow wow wow is all I can say - well not really otherwise this would be a really short blog post!

I went to my first ever Body Combat class last Wednesday and I totally LOVE IT! It was great!! I got to work out some serious pent up frustration/aggression and get a massive calorie burn at the same time.

In all honesty it was a little daunting for me - actually very daunting, but I made sure I was at the back of the class but still with a good view of the instructor. Some of the moves were a bit more complicated that I have been used to and they took me a while to get the hang of, but I did eventually get the hang of them!

I am going back this week! I've booked in for the Tuesday combat class followed directly by Body Pump......If you don't hear from me again for a while you now know the reason why!

cardio vs strength training

This is something that took me a while to get my head around! For a long long long time, I genuinely believed the only way to shed any of my weight was to spend hours and hours pounding the treadmill. So when i first started back at the gym this is what I did. However I very soon go bored and would talk myself out of going! I then found spin, and fell in love and whilst I was really pleased I had found some cardio exercise I liked, again I found myself getting fed up in the gym!

Until I found the confidence to head into the weight room. Now, other than my warm up I maybe only do 1-2 sessions of cardio at the most and 9 times out of 10 those cardio sessions involve HIIT training.

Since I started using weights both in body pump and with my trainer my entire body composition has changed! I have muscles in places I never knew existed!

Honestly when I started I was terrified, it can be really intimidating and complicated looking. There are still certain times of the day when I avoid the weight room - you'll never catch me in there in the evening! 

Even taking all this into account I still believe the benefits of weight training (see below) outweigh the hours of boredom pounding a treadmill:

Weight Training Build Lean Muscle - Increasing muscle mass, increases your metabolism. The long and short of it - you burn calories even while resting (all good in my book)

Boost Stamina - Essentially the less tired you will be! Being able to train for longer helps burn more calories!

Decreased Risk of Osteoporosis

Builds Confidence

Makes you happy - Lets be honest any exercise lifts the happy hormone in you so get moving!

Seriously though, why not give it a try????

Planning.....

When I decided to start trying to lose weight I had one massive end goal in sight! I wanted to be skinny by my 30th Birthday in October. Since I set that goal I've ended up setting a ton of other smaller goals some I didn't mean to set and others I didnt manage to achieve but throughout this process, setting goals and planning my next stages are what really has kept me motivated!

So I've decided to share my next mini goal with you.............We've been invited to an event during May! This is the first time I will have seen a lot of the people at this event since before I started on this journey so I want it to be obvious how well I've done, and on top of that I want to be able to fit into a really cute outfit!

This past weekend I decided that with 17 days to go it was time I got myself motivated so I drew up a plan.....

My 32 day plan basically consists of working through the 30 day shred and setting out what days I'm going to do my PT weights programme, Body Pump, Spinning aswell as continuing with my running. Phew I'm exhausted just looking at that list.

As of today I have 14 days (2 SHORT WEEKS) until the event however I've devised a 32 day plan to get me through the rest of the month.

As well as the exercise plan I've decided to limit my carb intake. I'm still going to eat carbs - I really need them as fuel for my workouts but not in the evenings and certainly not have as many of them!

So far I've managed three days of the plan without any hiccups. Easter was a bit of a challenge but I have my gold Lindt bunny as a reward after the event in 2 weeks time! To be perfectly honest with you I find having a schedule to stick to easier than not having one, it seems to be keeping me motivated.........as well as this :-)

LINDT BUNNY - AVAILABLE IN ALL GOOD SUPERMARKETS

So Far......

Ok I've been putting off this post for a long long time, but i think i really need to just get it out of the way and deal with it!

So here goes......This was me before i began my weightloss journey........

This is me now after 6 months of mainly cardio training and a few recent weight sessions.......(please excuse all the crap in the background)

STARTING WEIGHT - 259lb

CURRENT WEIGHT - 220lb

Spinning, Pumping, Personal Training!

Watch from ASOS

Wow i can't believe how long its been since i posted!

Truth be told I'd decided not to bother with this blog but recently I've been spending a lot of time on instagram and reading other peoples fitness blog and found them truly inspiring. Which made me think, while i may not think what i have to say is particularly important someone might, and just might be inspired by my story to give themselves a totally new lifestyle!

So whats been going on since i last posted.........well I've dropped a s*** tonne of weight.......I now weigh 216 which is considerably less than my starting weight!
Over the Christmas period something changed in my brain and i really decided i want this, so since then I've totally overhauled my diet, added in some weight training (weight machines and body pump class) and taken on a personal trainer!

I've also entered myself into my first 5k race - well its more of a fun run but hey ho!

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be posting about my daily gym, fitness and general day to day activities. My new clean eating lifestyle (i hate the word diet....it immediately makes me hungry), possibly some recipes. I also plan on sharing other fitness blogs that i love reading!

So for now take care xx