I will start off with saying i have not abandoned you! I am still here, still passionate about health and weight loss but in saying that, i have a confession... I have been eating bad, i mean really bad and i have been incredibly light on the exercise front! I really would love to blame this on work being incredibly intense the last 3 weeks but i will not be a woman of excuses. If i really wanted to have exercised i would have planned accordingly.
What he said!
I dread being one of those people who lose the weight but fail to keep it off so i had a good strong talk with myself and reminded myself that i want a lifestyle change so i jumped right back on track this morning with a workout and look at what happened!
I believe they call the 'after' look wrecked.
As you can see from the picture above it was hard to get back on the saddle but the important thing is that i did and i plan to stay there so to those who i have encouraged or inspired with my initial blog, i hope you're still on track and pressing forward. Remember slow and steady wins the race i.e. your consistency with exercise and healthy eating will pay off.
To any insanity students or newbies, in the words of Shaun T 'dig deeper' and power through!
Just a few side notes
To those who have the myfitnesspal app, add me so we can encourage eachother on this journey. I'm under the name 'nikkya'
I have recently been interviewed about my insanity progress for a lifestyle and fashion website known as Champagne and Stilettos. You can check that out right here!
**Progress pics**
My lovely friend with me in the picture on the left recently shared this throwback moment with me (2009 i believe) and i really see the weight on me in comparison to the picture of me on the right taken a few weeks ago.
Day 1>Day 30> Day 60 under the insanity workout DVD
Quick post here that will consist mainly of pictures. Being on this fitness vow/regime isn't easy and there are times when external motivation and inspiration is needed to keep going and it seems God sent instagram my way for this very reason. I've now been able to perv look at pictures from women from all over the world who are on their fitness game and going hard at it.
I dare anyone to look at these pictures below and not want to work out till you pass out!
GetFitWithNic
This lady here is a personal trainer from LA, i stumbled across her tumblr and since then i've been obsessed! Not only does she post encouraging fitness related messages, she gives workout routines that can be done at home but she also seems to have the best work out gear i've seen on anyone! Search her out- you wont regret it.
Rosa Acosta
Everything about this lady is just so 'tight'! Like wow she has an amazingly toned body, i can't help but push myself after browsing her pictures.
Sheneka Adams
I'm currently attempting to master the art of looking this cute pre/post work out!
Amazing transformations:
Somoya Reece
Somoya Reece from Love and Hip Hop has transformed her body and is looking rather amazing, definitely a source of encouragement that with hardwork and discipline you can change your body shape to where you want it to be! She's slimmer but still curvy and loving it, she shares lots of great tips on her youtube page- check it out.
Michelle Heaton
I stumbled across this picture of Michelle Heaton the Liberty X singer and I think for someone who has given birth, she looks fab. She accredits it to a tough work out regime and dieting and considering the fact that I'm yet to give birth I look much flabbier than she is. This has definitely motivated me to hard with the abs work.
In conclusion don't particularly want to have the exact same bodies as these women or be as noticeably toned as some of them are but i do admire their bodies and their obvious dedication and commitment to looking after it!
Welcome to another blog post , Im sort of winging this blogging thing at the moment but i must say though i did thoroughly enjoy writing my first blog on How i lost weight
I received such a fantastic response from it, overwhelming infact, It seems alot of people were inspired by my weight loss and please excuse the cheese but i feel humbled that people consider me an inspiration or an anchor as they progress or begin their fitness journey.
This blog will focus mostly on my diet whilst i did insanity, a mr/miss anonymous commented that they would like me to post more about 'what i ate, what exactly i meant by simple/complex carbohydrates and just general tips' so ive decided to do some short tips focused on food.
Disclaimer: The things i will outline below are things that worked for me, i can't guarantee you the same results but they are general tips that i believe should help.
Tip 1
Check your portion sizes! I liked to eat a healthy sized portion of food before i started working out but no way did i think that 'healthy' portion was infact way too much food until i started to weigh my food then i realised my body could actually cope on much less but instead had been pushed to that limit. To regulate my portions i started to weigh my food, this was a bit tedious at times and really isn't for everyone so if you can't do this then perhaps start with changing what you eat from i.e. instead of having your dinner off a large round plate, try a shallow-ish bowl or literally half what you would normally eat. Trust tesco on this, every little helps!
Tip 2
Watch your calorie intake! To lose weight its simple, you want to make sure your lose more calories each day i.e. through exercise/activity than you take in through eating so there is a minus in calories. This is supposed to be the best for weight loss that stays off! This is where something like myfitnesspal helps.
Michelin man- cute to look at but not to look like!
Tip 3
Ditch the white for the brown! Food such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, wholemeal pasta and cereal are known as complex carbohydrates with natural starches and are better for you than the white alternative or simple carbohydrates such as fizzy drinks, cakes etc because they break down more slowly in your body providing you energy over a longer period. It's the general consensus that they are healthier and better for you!
Tip 4
Eat good! By this i mean eat decently within the food groups, increase your portions of fruit and veg, careful of the type of fats you eat- stay away from saturated fat, eat more fish and chicken and just generally mantain a healthy balanced diet!
Balanced plate of food
.
Here is an example of a 3 day food diary of what i ate during insanity which was captured on myfitnesspal
In conclusion i can honestly say i have now changed my mindset and attitude to food and that was by me learning about what i put in my mouth. Knowledge is power in all circumstances so do feel free to jump on the world wide web and do further research on all the points above.
Watch out for my next post on ladies who i PERV look to when i need some motivation to workout.
I’ll start with saying blogging really isn’t my thing so please do not judge me if my writing style is pants or not sexy enough but I’ve had so many questions about a certain thing that happened to me recently that I thought ‘sod it, bite the bullet and blog on it’. That certain thing is my recent weight loss (2 stones and 2lbs baby) and seriously the comments/questions/queries/compliments have been so overwhelming that I thought it would be selfish of me not to share the secret and maybe help someone else get their sexy back.
It’s really hard documenting this because it means sharing my before pics (revealed at the end), my now pics are not where I’d like to end my weight loss/fitness regime but those before pics hurt! Every time I look at them I hear this
BUT i am proud of myself in terms of where I am now so allow me to continue...
So you may ask what exactly did you do to shift the weight... *drumroll please***...... I...I...I exercised and watched what I ate!!!!!. Not sure what you were expecting to read but yes I lost weight the good old fashioned way, the way which involved me getting off my arse and working for it. Oh trust me I prayed to God that a free lipo session would be dropped through the letter box but what do you know life doesn’t work like that. SOOO yes I worked out, I followed an exercise DVD, bought some work out gear and annoyed the hell out of my neighbours by pounding the floors. The specific exercise I followed was a workout DVD called insanity by a company called beachbody. Check out a clip below
Exercise
As you can see from the short clip its intense and i can confirm that it’s called insanity for a reason. As I did it daily I often considered whether I was insane to continue, it was hard but you know what it’s do-able.
I sweat, cried, moaned but at the end of it I LOST WEIGHT. I followed the programme and did it daily with a few weeks gap in between doing month 2. It’s a 60 day programme split between two months and you do different 45-1 hour circuit type exercises. What i loved about insanity was you had the easy on the eye Shaun T coaching you through, it really did feel like i had a personal trainer cheering me on.
For those who would like to lose weight I don’t know how you put on the weight but what i will say is for me, it crept up on me. One min I was slim, the next minute I was avoiding wearing short sleeved tops because I was ashamed of what I saw. I had always wanted to do something about it but honestly speaking I was lazy, I had all the lip service in the world but deep down I wasn’t ready to do something about it. Trying to lose weight isn’t easy but having that sheer determination for it is literally 50% of the work, if you get into that mindset you will power through no matter the circumstance.
I literally had to assure myself Nutty Professor style
YES I CAN
Now I am not an insanity sponsor/advocate/employee but I will say this is what I used and it really worked for me, I’ve recommended it to some people and it’s not been their thing which is fine. There’s no magic formula to insanity, it’s not based on never seen before moves, it’s literally just about getting active, burning the fat so do what works for you, be it the gym, a jog round the park, a zumba class or a workout DVD. Just do something!
Diet
On top of working out I watched what went into my mouth, I didn’t go on a diet, I repeat I did not go on a diet. Diets are a bit dodgy to me because you do your best to avoid a certain type of food for a period of time and once that time is up you go back to that thing/the bad eating habits which just sees you putting the weight back on instead I tried to adopt a new frame of mind in regards to food. I started to care about what I put into my mouth, after all my body is a temple and I must treat it as such. I jumped on the World Wide Web and did some research. Through this I learnt to reduce my carb intake, started replacing simple carbohydrates for complex carbohydrates, started to drink water, cut down on food portions etcetera etcetera.
I fly the flag for #teamiphone and I’m grateful that it introduced to me an app called myfitnesspal. This app was also very instrumental in my weight loss as it helped me record my daily food intake. It makes such a big difference seeing what you eat written down as you quickly understand what you shouldn’t eat as its stares you in the face! As well as recording what you eat the app works by you entering your current weight, desired weight and activity/ activity level then as you enter daily calories it tells you what you will weigh in a few weeks should you keep that up! For month 1 i was(tried to be) on 1200 calories then i went onto 1500 calories for month 2 as the intensity of the workout increased. Check out the app which is also available via the internet.
Few tips
In the beginning try and work out with someone, this will push you, motivate you, encourage you and heck sometimes make you jealous of their progress that you push harder.
Take before pics! You will cringe and hate them but they are a great way of tracking progress. This also goes for weighing yourself before, either on the scales or with a tape measure or even both!
Always always remember a bad workout is the one that didn’t happen!!
To conclude I can’t lie I feel great and from the compliments recieved I’ve gathered that I’m not looking too bad either lol. I will continue to exercise and watch what I eat as I move nearer to my ideal weight. I hope this post has helped encourage/motivate you, im far from a fitness guru but any questions or comments please do ask and I’ll do my best to answer.
