Update - Life, Weightloss and Training

Hello!!

If anyone is actually still reading this blog can I just say sorry for my absence and thank you so much for your patience!

I'm totally stressed out right now and not managing to fit everything in... family, training, work and studying have to come first - in that order, so blogging has been pushed back and my social life has taken a nosedive!

The house-buying is still an ongoing saga... we're still in the running for it has just been revealed that the rather less-than-proactive owner of the property didn't get himself a Home Information Pack (HIP)!!!

Last we've heard is that he's in the process of belatedly acquiring one.

*sigh*

As annoying and frustrating this is, if everything goes well and it all goes ahead, this stalling might have been a bit of a Godsend as we simply cannot rent out Joe's house at the mo because we have no kitchen floor surface!!

To complicate our home matters further massive destructive damp has recently been discovered... our washing machine had been leaking over the years and the water had permeated through the entire kitchen, breakfast room and even out into the hall!

So we are missing floor tiles, have a big hole in the hallway and some floorboards missing - PLUS 3 noisy ugly dehumidifiers chugging away, joy!

Still, fortunately we have house insurance and the good news is that we'll get a shiny new floor that the next inhabitants of this place can enjoy :-)

It's just a bit annoying right now as everything's in boxes and it looks hideous!

Okay, so onto other annoyances of the past few months (I promise it gets more positive later ;-) )

Here we go, here's something now, what what do you think of my Maxitone Hoodie?!



I love it! It's so super warm and snug and such a great cut and fit, plus I LOVE the colour, purple is my favourite so this just fits the bill entirely :-)

I've been trying to be rather more restrained with my spending lately so haven't made any big purchases lately but did buy this new toy...



Sexy huh? ;-)

It does make awesome smoothies and soups and is helpful for things like homemade houmous!

I also think I've been very well restrained given the 3 awesome new shops that have opened up near my work:



North Face, Cycle Surgery AND Run and Become?!! That's just too much temptation in such a small area!

I went in North Face... I just bought a hat



I can't believe that's all I bought, I'm quite pleased with my willpower, I wanted to buy a LOT more!!

I also can't believe it but I missed my anniversary! I started this blog on 16th Feb 2009 and it has just been the best thing ever in terms of keeping me focused and helping me gain confidence in my own abilities. So a big thanks again to everyone who takes the time to read it :-) x

Training and Weightloss

A couple of weeks ago I took some pics, which I have to say I hated, big time... but then what good would 'before' pics be if they didn't look rubbish eh? (that's what I'm telling myself anyway heh)

I weighed 11 stone (154lbs) on Saturday 13th March and that upset me a lot. However, I've really gone back to basics and overhauled my diet and I'm pleased to report that I lost 6lbs last week!!

That was such a huge confidence booster, and it was really needed and appreciated as I was feeling a little low because quite a few of the girls from the Maxitone Body of 2009 have been asked to attend photoshoots for pictures for the new catalogues... but I haven't :'-(

Stings a bit, knocked my confidence somewhat, and made me feel a bit low. But then I thought I'd take the disappointment and channel it into something positive, like motivation to do even better and show them what they're missing, probably sounds silly huh? Worked for me though, you can't make everyone like you no matter how hard you try, but for every rejection there'll be a countering force... or so I like to think :-)

I guess I shouldn't be entirely surprised, I didn't like many of the shots at all - so how could I expect anyone else to? Plus I don't think I look myself in them either, the hair was a stupid idea, I never even so much as blow-dry mine! I just *don't* look like that when I'm exercising...

Here! This is me the other day post-workout in my local gym having just sweated my arse off but feeling that wonderful calmness that hard work brings :-)



Not very glamorous huh? In fact I look a bit minging, but then I like what exercising does to my body and I don't work out for anyone else but me :-)

Anyway, enough of that, the main reason I was so surprised and pleased for the huge weight loss was that I'd been eating so much during the week, in terms of meals and frequency - though obviously not hugely in the way of calories! - and I never felt hungry, or like I was being deprived, and I couldn't believe that I'd managed to lose so much!

It means so much for someone like me who has spent so many years depriving her body of food and nutrients in order to lose weight to instead be able to so effectively in such a positive fashion.

Don't get me wrong, my eating and healthy regime has definitely not taken a backslide, and the eating disorder demons are well and truly destroyed, but I have been eating and drinking a little too much and I haven't been thinking carefully about the purpose of the fuel that I've been putting in my body, where it's going, what its goal is etc... it's just been food, which is *absolutely* fine if you just want to be normal and healthy... but if you want to sculpt your body into something worthy of taking to the stage then you do need to pay more attention to the nutrients which enter your body and make sure they're going towards the right things... it's all a bit geeky, which is just as well as I've never professed to being anything else :-)

I don't for one second envisage such a large weight loss occurring this week but if I could lose a pound or two a week between now and FAME then I'd be super chuffed :-)

So, how have I been doing it?

Well I'm currently on about 1500 Cals a day. I did try to limit to 1100 but that just made me miserable and didn't fit in with my plan to eat at least 5 meals a day!

My Protein/Carbohydrate/Fat percentages are set to 40/40/20 respectively (although at the moment I'm managing closer to a 40/30/30 split. I guess it will take a while before I find something I'm happy with and a lot depends on my level of activity, i.e. if it's high in terms of cardio I'll up my Carbohydrate intake provide the energy I need, and if it's Weights-heavy I'll take on extra Protein before and (mainly) after my session.

I aim to consume about 150g protein a day, I really think it's helping loads :-)

I'm doing a lot of my strength work in the evenings, after dinner - which is good as I have the energy that comes from eating so many meals through the day to help me lift. When I come back from the gym I'm having a Maxitone Definity (banana) shake which suits me perfectly as it's only 120 Cals but a huge 24.3g of Protein to go straight to work rebuilding my muscles to a higher spec ;-)

Generally a day's worth of food for me goes like this:

07:00 - Maxitone Sculptress shake or bar
10:00 - snack (e.g. cottage cheese, apple and cheese, almonds)
13:00 - lunch (e.g. chicken breast, salad, quinoa)
16:00 - snack (e.g. tuna, Definity Crisp or Promax Crisp bar)
19:00 - dinner (e.g. hot chilli and brown basmati rice, mixed veg and turkey stir-fry)
22:00 - Maxitone Definity shake

The small meals have worked so well... my blood sugar levels have remained steady, I've experienced no highs and lows in the day, no afternoon slump, and the regular intake of food as guaranteed that my metabolism stays constantly fired up as my body is working more frequently to process the food I'm taking in.

The planning and execution of all this is only made possible by the fabulous Weightloss Resources, honestly I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have their fab tools and the forum is a great place to visit too... although unfortunately I never seem to have the time to do it :-(

Still, I'm able to keep track of everything that passes my lips and that is a big help to me. Obviously, my eating has become a lot more prescriptive but I need to have structure or I'm not going to stand a chance in the FAME competition and I'm just going to end up making a tit out myself!

I'm not going to post my bikini pics just yet, I don't have much of a comparison to be fair, but I will next time I take some just so you can see (hopefully!) how much progress I've made!

In the meantime however I will bore you to pieces with pictures of my upper half - ha!:

Here is the only bikini shot I'll let you see, I quite like it :-)



And this is me last Friday having just done worked my arms and also put in some bloody good core work too - trembly abs, love it! :-D




I really love my shoulders and how it's all coming together, it's the most rewarding thing in the world to see evidence of hard work in photo-form - my arms have NEVER looked this good before

*BEAMS*

Work Gym

I am probably one of the most fortunate people in terms of access to fitness facilities as I have a local gym less than 5 mins walk away and also a small one in my building at work!

Recently it was refurbished (and by that I just mean the equipment was replaced! ;-) ) and we've got some pretty cool stuff!

Fortunately they've left the free weights so I'm chuffed with that but we've got two treadmills, two elliptical trainers, two stationary bikes (all from LifeFitness) and a Concept 2 Rower also!

Because I feel so grateful for all this I decided to give something back and offered to help out with gym inductions for everyone who wanted to become a member of our work gym as the membership system and payment (£20 for six months... hardly breaking the bank!) has changed.

Unfortunately the fella from LifeFitness who was supposed to be showing us the equipment in detail had had an accident and, although okay, was unable to attend the training day. So facilities drafted in this poor lad from the shop salesfloor! He did alright though and to be honest most of the machines - with the exception of the multi-gym - are pretty self-explanatory.

I put together a gym induction programme (as it was the only way for me to remember everything as we'd had no guidance!) and I've got some really good feedback from other people who had offered to induct people too, saying that they've printed it off and are using it themselves - woot!

I must admit, when I offered to help out with the gym I was quite scared at the thought of making a prat out myself in front of people from the building whom I might bump into again at some point!

However, it's the weirdest thing... when in the gym I feel so comfortable and familiar with everything that I wasn't nervous at all, in fact able to crack a few jokes with some people!

This has been amazing for me as I'm not good in public situations, I go red if I have to talk in meetings - and I don't just mean a gentle flushing of the cheeks, my entire face goes beet!!

So yes, anyway that's been really positive for me and I've asked people to contact me if they need any more help or a few exercise ideas and pointers, I'm so keen to get Victoria fit!! There are few things that give me greater pleasure than seeing people taking such positive steps towards their long term health and, ultimately, happiness!

Another awesome thing to come out of my work (God I love my company so much!!) is that one of our lovely occupation health people has organised two activities - the first being a 'Fit Club', based on a sort of 'Biggest Loser' (don't worry Jillian Michaels, this won't be televised, there's only a handful of people, the franchise is safe!)/Celebrity Fit Club style...

I'm not in that club but I hear that people are doing very well and losing lots of lbs so that's great news indeed!

Also, our occupational health therapist has organised Boxercise classes!!!

This is super super exciting for me as I *love* boxing (well, the training anyway!) and in fact we (Joe, my son and I) used to go to a boxing gym nearby which was run by Clinton McKenzie in a studio above a pub in Herne Hill, SE London.

We all loved it, but it was so expensive, about £70 or more a month. The one-on-one training with the focus pads was great but we just couldn't justify the expense so had to stop :-(

Joe's actually just bought some new focus pads from a shop in his hometown of Brentwood in Essex... there's a really great shop where he got my boxing gloves from 2 Christmasses ago.

They're gorgeous, pink and lovely, as are my wraps, I adore them! I'll have to take a picture but Joe's asleep upstairs as I type this and don't want to wake him

Here are the focus pads though, cool huh?



They're proper leather and sturdy as hell which is just as well as my son packs a mighty punch!

So anyway, onto the Boxercise classes.

They're with a lovely chap called Sam Rosser who works for a company called Amor Lifestyle Coaching and are based in Hertfordshire.

Sam's great, he's got the right mix of enthusiasm and slight sadism we all need to get us into shape. He also looks the part (lean and athletic) which is very important to me as I don't think I'd take a trainer seriously if they were bellowing at me with a big wobbly belly hanging over their jeans. Sorry.

The first class was the most fun ever and I was soooo worried that the second class would be a letdown as you know when you build something up in your mind you set yourself up for a fall huh?

The second class was even more fun than the first (helped by the fact that the girl I was paired with didn't quite have the same look of abject terror that the lady had the week before, poor thing, I'm sure I don't hit *that* hard!!)

Last week was challenging as it was in a small room (we have room issues in our buildings, they're always bloody booked out when you want them!!) and Sam increased things like the volume of strength work we were doing... I think I did nearly 40 full press-ups in total (obviously not all at once!!) as he had us doing sets of tens and then the odd one or two thrown in for good measure!

I did find it alarming how many men couldn't do full press-ups... and of the men who did some looked more like they were humping the floor... it just seems wrong to me to be able to do it better than them!!

Saying that, not sure how I'll cope tomorrow as my chest is feeling a little sore as I was working my shoulders yesterday in the gym (NOT going to do it the day before Boxercise like last week, that was a mistake, I was knackered!) and threw in some chest work as the Max Rack was free.. ahh well, we'll see!

In any case, I'm having a fab time and I just love all the team/paired activities, it's so great to meet new sporty people who otherwise I just wouldn't talk to, I'd have no reason to, our business is so diverse everyone is doing everything else!!


Climbing

Soooo, finally got my arse back to the Castle Climbing Centre. I don't think I've been back since my last post about it back in October!!

How dreadful is that? :-(

Anyway, went and had a fab time. Was pleased that my new upper body strength came in useful although I *know* you're not meant to use it when climbing really, it should be a combined effort... but I was lame as I hadn't been for ages and I needed my strength to help me along!

I took some pics while sat on a mat stretching as Joe was going up one of the high walls but as I've mentioned before my bloody phone pics have been overwritten on my palm pre (I think the latest software update was a bit dodge although it did give me the capacity to film videos, which is great if, like me, you've got a daft cat who likes to chase her own tail - hours of fun!! ;-) )

The only pic not overwritten was this of Jane from work:



Can't wait to go back :-) Will have to take an actual camera next time!

Spinning

I went tonight, it was so hard, so hot... I felt wasted, I almost vomited!

That might have been because I'd just wolfed down dinner:



salmon and some veg I sliced up and threw in a wok with some oil, garlic and soy sauce - delish if I do say so myself!!

Netball

As mentioned in my last post, this is on hold until ankle strengthens enough that it stops hurting when I move it... I'm thinking of making a tentative return to training sometime soon but I'll be sure to either cycle or walk to training instead of running there and back like before!

I need to be careful though as the twisting and leaping around that is involved in netball (which makes it sooooo much fun!!) really aggravated my ankle in the first place, boo :-(

Running

As above, high impact stuff is a no-no - fortunately there those wonderful things called elliptical/cross trainers which stop me going nuts - hurrah!!

Rowing

See running and netball - unfortunately the movement of the ankle joint when sliding out and in is super detrimental to my joint.

Watch when I come back better and stronger though ;-)

Competitions/Race

I really think that to keep my motivation levels high I need to put myself forward for things that will take me out of my comfort zone and challenge me to make a difference. I don't want to slide back into normality just yet, I like having goals to focus on :-)

Maxitone Body of 2010

Okay so I'm obviously going to enter this - it's a given!

What's also probably a given is the fact that I won't so much as make the finals because the competition will be too intense. Maxitone is really going to take off in a huge way and, as it works, the number of gorgeous buff women who will enter will probably be vastly different to last year's entry!

ultra-FIT Magazine Cover Model Search

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I really like ultra-FIT magazine. I was a bit unsure at the beginning of last year but it started to really impress and I've been a subscriber for a little while now.

Recently I saw they were holding a Cover Model Search competition which has some pretty awesome prizes so I'm going to enter it!

Entries close on May 17th (although I'm sure it was the week after when I first noticed it!)

FAME UK

This deserves a post of its own so I'm going to write one up soon hopefully :-)

There are so many other things I'd like to do, just this year in fact, like the Three Peaks which a friend is meant to be organising - we'll see!

Would also love to do triathlon again... so many things to work towards, so little time!!

Watch this space!

Oh, and if you've got this far, thanks for reading!!

TJx

Weight Loss Resources - Awesome Site

I *still* haven't used this site to its full potential but every week I'm getting better at using the tools provided.

Here's a great story about a lady called Angela Doyle who lost an enormous amount of weight while using the WLR site.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/life-style/dieting/2009/07/31/i-lost-10-stone-after-seeing-a-picture-of-me-at-size-32-115875-21559406/

What a star, what an amazing achievement!

Very happy for her :-)

Cleaning out my Diet - Top 25 Superfoods

An evening to myself... ahh, doesn't happen too often, my boyfriend's a poker nut and is out gracing the tables as I type this :-)

So, I'm sat here watching/listening to MTV2... so far I have been treated to guns 'n' roses, pearl jam, vintage blur , rage against the machine and now some awesome smashing pumpkins :-) All with a cheeky glass of red wine (a very small one, mind) as my Carlsberg 0.5% lager has run out, boo :-( it has truly become one of the staples of my diet as I'm trying to lay off the 'real' stuff!

I really should try and cut out alcohol, at least during the week, but I don't really drink much to be honest and baby steps eh? I'm not sure I can commit to eating an entirely clean diet! 8-O not just yet anyway ;-)

So, enough of the waffling... I've decided to trial some muscle and fitness mags to see what I think of them. In the past I've only ever tended to buy Men's Fitness magazine as Men's Health is a bit too all-encompassing, fashioning itself more as a counterpart, or complement to the 'healthy' mags us girls get, with more of a focus on style and male emotions, with actual fitness and strength training seemingly appearing as an incidental aside. That saying, the men on the front covers are pretty hot

Yes, I am that shallow ;-)

hehe, no seriously, my 'point', if I actually had one, was that I could definitely take Men's Fitness more seriously as there is/was more training tips and less moaning about erectile dysfunction

god, that sounds like my spam folder!

Anyway! Right, I bought Muscle & Fitness magazine the other day, as well as Ultra Fit. Less impressed by the latter as the 'women's fitness' section just seems to have some woman prancing about doing star jumps and skipping rope... hmmm.. That said, they do have a lot of info about cycling, triathlon, and a bit of strength training thrown in to boot - fancy! Will have to read it in full and get back to you on that

Muscle & Fitness I am very impressed with, however... despite the really scary looking body builders featured in the ads! I like the fact that their homepage title goes "...the Bodybuilding Magazine for fitter, stro..." and then stops... it's almost like my blog title... c'mon!

So, they've got some great articles, including one on the legend that was Bruce Lee.

But the article that really caught my attention was one on nutrition... a subject that I've always had a huge interest in - I wanted to become a dietitian after thinking what a fabulous job the one at King's College Hospital did after I gave birth (13 years ago next Tuesday!), I was in for 2 weeks as my son was quite premature and was ravenously hungry, she was just fantastic, I was so impressed.

I ended up in IT, for my sins, oh well! Still always been (probably a little too) interested in the food I consume, hence why I've used Weight Loss Resources for the past few years... okay I have strayed to other sites but have always come back to WLR, it satisfies the huge food geek in me!!

So anyway, the article starts:

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
We've listed the top 25 foods that should be a regular part of your training table.

EATING CLEAN GETS A BAD RAP.
When people see you have a decent-size pair of arms and a six-pack, they typically assume you live on a diet of dry chicken breasts, unseasoned sweet potatoes and the occasional side of broccoli. The perception is that the foods necessary for building and maintaining muscle are bland and repetitive. But a strange thing happened when we started to compile a list of the best foods for the body-conscious: we realised we were spoiled for choice – it's hard to cap the list at a mere 25. That's a testament to how varied a muscle-building diet can be. Or, more accurately, it's a testament to how accepting this lifestyle is. Yes, there's a lot of hard work involved, both in and out of the gym, but your reward for training hard is eating almost anything you want – as long as you time it right. Jelly beans (after workouts), onion rings (on cheat days) and a juicy rib eye (on low-carb days) can all fit into an eating programme designed to get you big and ripped. The 25 foods presented here, listed alphabetically, aren't the only foods you're allowed to eat; they're merely those that should most often line your shelves and feed your muscles. Bon appétit...

I'll list the top 25 foods featured, grouped into categories (because I'm nice like that)

So, in no particular order:

Meat
Chicken Breast
Rump Steak

Fish
Salmon
Tuna

Dairy
Eggs
Cottage Cheese

Grains
Porridge Oats
Quinoa
Wholemeal Bread
Brown Rice

Vegetables
Spinach
Sweet Potato
Broccoli

Fruit
Grapefruit
Apple
Banana
Watermelon
Blueberries

Nuts and Legumes
Walnuts
Peanut Butter
Black Beans

Drinks
Green Tea
Coffee
Gatorade

Healthy Fats
Olive Oil

It's worth buying the magazine yourself to see the individual articles on the different foods. Each one is given points out of five for its fat burning properties, muscle building capabilities and convenience (grab and go) factor

Aside from Gatorade... which I cannot understand, and am a bit dubious of, everything listed makes sense... and I'm super excited to see that peanut butter has a place there (apparently, being high in mono-unsaturated fats it is not only heart, but also waistline, friendly - rock on!)

So, what I plan to do is embrace and incorporate these 'superfoods' into my life and diet... welcome, oh superfoods, to the bosom of my fridge (and cupboard(s)!)

the (rather) good news (for me) is that 99% of the foods listed are already firmly ensconced in my diet, although not given the priority and due attention/exposure that they obviously so fully deserve!

In brief (yeah right, I hear you say), yesterday I had brown rice, salmon and broccoli (remember that!), today we had quorn escalopes with sweet potato and carrot mash as well as mixed spicy beans and broccoli, jolly nice it was too - even my son loved the mash, commenting on how filling it was as well as tasty!



OMG Radiohead - Creep - has just come on... swooon
Saw them last year in Victoria Park, heavenly

Sorry, I should really wrap this up as my glass of wine is nearly empty and it really really shouldn't be refilled...

So yes, plan is to
1) cook with these foods
2) devise/plagiarise (kidding!) recipes
3) and then write/bore you to tears about them.

Care to read? (actually, if you've made it this far down the page I'm really impressed!)

I shall start with Quinoa... which represents the only food on the list that I've not ever eaten

watch this space x

eughhh

I'm having a wisdom tooth out today, although this is not until later and the event is yet to take place, I thought I'd attempt to evoke as much sympathy as possible... to act as a cushion... of sorts!

the tooth hasn't grown through properly yet, and doesn't have the space to either... I'll spare you the gory details (unless you really want to know and then you can just mail me and I'll get graphic), but needless to say I'm going to be feeling rather sorry for myself later.

My other half, who's currently in the doghouse, is giving the whole TLC phenomena a go and will be bringing me back some soup tonight, bless! (he did offer ice-cream, which would be infinitely preferable... not least for the taste but also its cooling properties!) but I resisted - hurrah! Will now be having carrot and coriander soup for main and a maximuscle promax diet milkshake for dessert, splendid :-) (I'm thinking of mixing banana and strawberry powders... with ice and real banana too, should be tasty!)

Anyway, in preparation for tonight's butchery, and the subsequent inability to eat solids, I decided that a huuuuge main meal in the middle of the day was in order as I'll be slurping liquid slush later no doubt.

So I visited our canteen at lunch... and there went a little nuts. I bought a piece of salmon, half an avocado, some salad with pasta and olives, some chicken risotto, a few new potatoes, and... to top it all off... some roasted parsnips!

Now, you'd think that parsnips would be a healthy option, and generally they are; but not when they've been deep fried!

I thought they were lovely at first, all crispy, yummmmm... having eaten the lot I felt like I was going to barf.

I'm wondering if this is because they were actually a) revolting (although they certainly didn't *taste* that way) or b) just containing too much fat!

I've been on quite a low fat diet for a little while now and perhaps my body just couldn't handle the high lard content?! Either way I felt thoroughly sickened and have only now, almost 2 hours later, been able to start eating my risotto and new potatoes.

I think I might steer clear of the downstairs canteen in future. I just find that, when faced with a large choice, I make a large choice!!

I might start making my own lunches and bringing them in, that way I can accurately calculate the calories and fat etc in my online Weight Loss Resources diary (you have the facility to create recipes... which can be as simple as jam on toast, or as complex as...errmm... paella?)

I really need to sort my eating habits out, I really do suffer from disordered eating!! Although employing the word 'suffer' is probably incorrect as it's less of a 'affliction' than an 'infliction' on myself. I could eat properly if I just sat down and thought more carefully about it... planned my meals in advance etc. But although I'm super organised when it comes to planning events and trips, I'm less so when it comes to organising my own life. I have a dreadfully short attention span and I get bored more quickly than anyone I know! Except perhaps my son, poor lad, dreadful trait to inherit!

ahh well, anyway, enough of the rambling...

I got let out of play rehearsals early last night - quite scared at the mo as it's next week that it's on!! - and considered going to the gym but ended up meeting up with neighbours to discuss a street party we're putting on later in the year (we're a sociable bunch us south-londoners!).

As my other half decided not to come home after only going to the pub after the club run to 'discuss his etape training', I felt too full of energy, and also moderately full of guilt at skipping the gym, so decided to do one of my many exercise DVDs that I have bought in a fit of good intentions, only to have them lie dormant on my shelves forever more.... ahhh

well, I did one of Nell McAndrew's DVDs. I love Nell, okay she's a former glamour model... and indeed does sometimes still strip off - but this time was for charity (can you spot which one she is? haha) - and, being rather well-spoken myself, I should find her accent a bit of a put off (as I know it grates on some people), but I don't, it's very sweet... as is she. She looks great, and is a bloody good athlete to boot, with a marathon time qualifying her to run with the elites!!!

I did her third DVD -
Ultimate Challenge - Ultimate Results in which she employs the use of her personal trainer again - whose name I've forgotten! - the format is much like the other one I've done... lots of leg raises, jogging on the spot and squats.... arghhhh! Painful!!

I liked this DVD for 3 reasons

- Although repetitive, this video was far from boring!

- You literally do all the workouts in a small area, almost on the spot, this means that if you only have a very small space to use then it's ideal for you! (as long as you don't have have any low-hanging light fittings as there is a lot of arm waving!!)

- the people in the video were *much* less irritating than last time, I abhor people, mainly guys I find, who dance around and bop to the music in exercise DVDs... like they're something special... YOU'RE NOT... YOU'RE JUST WALLPAPER, ACT ACCORDINGLY!!!
ahem, sorry, so where was I... oh yeah, and there were more people this time, in all shapes and sizes - someone for everyone eh? ;-)

- They all sweat!! HA! I love it... obviously Nell still manages to have the most perfect make-up, and she doesn't sweat in embarrassing places like I do (never again will I wear light grey pants to a pilates class!!!)

yes, okay so that was more than three, but still... definitely a thoroughly enjoyable workout

Right, better get on...
-

Quick Update (and renewed commitments!)

I'm going to write a longer post soon, but just thought I'd give you all an update as to how I'm doing...

well, not too well actually!

I've discovered that my goal of becoming the women's Maximuscle Body of 2009 is going to be a lot more challenging than I thought!!

I thought I was doing so well last week... well, reasonably well anyway. I cycled to and from work every single day - okay so that's only 4 miles each way, and I'm hardly what you could call a 'speedy cyclist', but I do get reasonably sweaty (nice) and it sure beats taking the train for exercise! (although, saying that, given that I'm notoriously late for just about everything, perhaps my five minute dash to the train station burns off more calories than my 40/50 mins of cycling a day? haha)

I also drank milkshakes practically every day too and I definitely ate less!

I put on 2lbs... gutted doesn't even come close :-(

However, when I look back, if I'm truly honest I'd have to admit that I wasn't all that disciplined. Work and study deadlines meant that my cycling to work was the *only* exercise I did until last Saturday afternoon! I had a day's training course during which a rather wonderful hot and cold buffet was supplied... I also drank a fair bit of red wine on several occassions... oh yeah, and had steak and chips, and fish and chips two nights in a row!

heavens, I only really have myself to blame!

I think that now, if I'm going to see any real results I will have to approach this in a controlled fashion. I'm going to have to a) religiously enter food into my online food diary on Weight Loss Resources b) actually do some exercise! c) stick to the two shakes a day for breakfast and lunch, D) and just use the maximuscle promax diet shakes, instead of flitting between that and the slimfast which I've been trying to use up. As much as the slimfast shakes are reasonably palatable, and they are thicker in consistency (I imagine though that this is due to the addition of milk) and mix very well, the floury taste is a bit off putting as is the enormous sugar-derived carbohydrate level!

Now, I'm not one of those (perhaps rather silly, sorry!) people who believe that you can live on an extremely high-protein diet for any length of time and train hard with it.

After all, if my hero Lance Armstrong's very own coach, Chris Carmichael asserts that we absolutely need at least 60% of our daily intake of food to come from carbohydrates then who am I to argue with that?!

The fact is that I a) eat a lot of fruit and b) cook a lot of rice, potatoes, pasta etc as part of my family's evening meal, so there's no chance of me going into ketosis (which is good as I'm rather fond of my internal organs and their efficient functionality!!) I just realise that protein plays a massively important part in muscle development and regeneration!

Anyway, going off on one again, sorry!

Where was I... oh yeah, so I'm going to only stick to the maximuscle promax diet shakes, and the diet bars when they arrive (I'm not allowed to get personal items delivered to work so my b/f's about to get a heap of maximuscle goods descend on him, poor love, ha!)

I'll also be experimenting with the efficacy of the Thermobol pills too... interested to see what results, if any, they produce. There are some good reviews available for the product, but they seem to all cite things like perseverance, increased exercise/weight training, and a better diet as being key facilitators for enabling the product to work. Comments like that concern me and make me question whether or not it is just the increase in exercise and the decrease in food that has helped and not the pills themselves!

It's hard to tell, and I guess I've got to wait and see what results, if any, they produce! Of all the thermogenic fat-burning pills there seem to be out there on the market, I'd probably trust Thermobol over the rest because of the quality of nutrition and the level of research behind maximuscle's products.

Right, time to stop rambling and to put my money where my mouth is!

Workout Wallets

Weight Loss Resources, the rather fabulous site I've mentioned before, that I've used for the past 5 years or so to help me avoid the usual food nutritional value guestimation pitfalls, has a pretty damn good sister site called Diet and Fitness Resources.

Their prices are pretty good and, aside from the usual bog standard stuff like fitness equipment, diet and cook books etc... they also sell food diaries, and, more importantly for me, Workout Wallets!

These things are fantastic, seriously! I've been using them for ages and they're a great point of reference for seeing how well you're progressing.

Definitely more suited for people who like to weight train as there's a big section devoted to strength workouts, where you can enter your weight and number of repetitions. You get 13 double sided cards, strong enough to write on without needing to lean on anything really, and they're all in a handy A5 wallet (like the name dictates ;-) ) which you can put your pens and gym card, mobile etc in... I've seen loads of people at my gym casting interested/envious looks at them haha, they really look the part!

First Post

Well, an imaginative title as any I suppose!

Me

I guess I should start by telling you a little about myself. Well, it will just be that, a little...

I live and work in London, am aged between 26 and 35, have a good job, great family and friends and am pretty active - I run, cycle, swim (when it's a little warmer!), climb, trek and, most importantly, love weight training.

However, despite my relatively active lifestyle, over the last couple of years I've gone from a slim size 8-10 at around the 9 stone mark, to an uncomfortable squeezed-into-jeans-and-only-those-with-lycra 12-14... well, 14 plus if I'm honest. This is pretty heartbreaking, not to mention damn annoying for someone with such an extensive collection of (too small) clothing as myself!! I do recognise however that I've totally done this to myself, I've watched the weight creep on at a steady pace, and not done anything noteworthy to halt its advance.

I probably fall into the same category as a large percentage of the population of women who find it very difficult to lose weight without resorting to something drastic, like crash dieting, daft eating plans that promise speedy results etc... my problem is that I'm a victim of my environment and lifestyle (oh poor me)... I expect everything to be delivered now, right now, right this minute... immediately! and that extends to my (somewhat warped) ideas of how long it should take to lose weight... i.e. not long at all!

Of course, I know that that's not going to happen unless I get a big tube to suck all the fat out of me, so I guess I've got to work at it.

Previously, if a slimming method didn't deliver results within a week I'd give up, and then just continue to gradually increase in weight and size. The hilarious thing is that if I'd just persevered with whatever method I was using, I'd have lost *all* the weight by now.

So, I'm going to adopt a method and stick to it, and this will be tied in with a goal other than the obvious losing-weight and looking great (like it!) outcome I'm hoping to achieve.

I want to enter the Maximuscle Woman Body of 2009, and win it too! I realise that this might be more challenging for me than a lot of other women as mother nature pretty much overlooked my chest department and instead decided to liberally apply all fatty tissue to my butt and thighs, oh yes, I am the typical pear.

I am aware that last year's winner (who looks absolutely fantastic now, have seen her before and after pics on the tube and she's done amazingly well!) has the typical pin-up look (e.g. tan, blonde hair and big boobs), and quite a lot less muscle tone than some of the other Body hopefuls, but I'm willing to dispense with my cynicism and give this a bloody good try! After all, I shape up pretty well if I put my mind to it, I find that I can put muscle on pretty easily (*far* more easily than I burn fat, grr), and I'm not bad looking to boot ;-)

The Products

I'm going to be using various Maximuscle products, not because I want to be a walking advert for the brand (as this won't help my pocket unfortunately!), but because I'm a bit of a nutrition geek. I've done a fair bit of research on the slimming tools available to me and I think that the nutritional quality of the Maximuscle range is far superior to that of others I've found. Plus, as I intend to be training pretty damn hard between now and September, I need a protein and vitamin rich product which will sustain me physically and support muscle generation as well as recovery.

I was rather alarmed to discover just how much of Slim Fast's carbohydrate volume was made up of sugars!

I will also be using the Weight Loss Resources website as it has an absolutely amazingly comprehensive database of foods. The online food and exercise diary is superb and enables you to really analyse every food item you consume. You can customize your target ratio of protein, fat and carbs, and see how well you're doing in attaining that target.

Anyway, that's enough background on me and the tools I will be using to hopefully reach my goal. I will be posting regular updates and pictures detailing how well (or not!) I am doing.

BFN