6 kilos in 6 weeks....eeeekk!!!!

Well it's time to be honest.  I've had a shocking couple of weeks with regards to eating :(  I've fallen victim to the dreaded "mummy munchies" - eating my 2 year olds leftovers, having a biccie when she has a biccie and getting those dreaded afternoon munchies when I'm at home in the afternoons!!  And to make things even worse I'm having a birthday party for her in a few weeks so we've been trialling cupcakes and biccies for the party - arghhhh. 
So it's resulted in a plateau on the scales for the last couple of weeks and I just feel horrible - tired, cranky (yes I even feel a little bit sorry for Brett at the moment) unmotivated and just plain blah in general.  My training is bang on track, couldn't be happier with it.  But as they say "you can't out train a bad diet" and I'm proving that saying right at the moment lol. 
So on Monday myself and a few of my fav clients are starting a 6 week challenge and I'm so excited (and I just can't hide it....woohoo).  We've got 6 weeks, training 6 days a week (for 60mins/day) and aiming for 6 calorie/portion controlled meals/day.  The magic numbers - 666 - and starting on halloween, quite appropriate ;)  So I'm setting myself the goal to try and lose 6kg.  Why?  Because it just sounds good with all the other 6'ers lol.  No seriously because it will get me to just below my pre-2nd pregnancy weight and my goal before Christmas.  I know it's gonna be extremely tough and I'm freaking out just a little bit looking at the number.  But I also know that with determination, positive thinking and support I can will do it. 
I'll be changing my weigh ins back to Monday and will begin this Monday with weigh in and measurements and I'll also be doing some fitness tests to help set a few more goals to aim for throughout the 6 weeks. 
So I'd love for any of you to follow along and set yourself some goals and make the commitment to yourself for the next 6 weeks.  It's really not that long of a time frame and the results will be well worth it in the end. 
Wish me luck and stay tuned for updates.

Achieved nothing but everything

Well not too much to report for last week.  A great week of "holidays" saw a 200g loss from me and a new fence built from hubby.  As it was our holiday week I had banned the gym and counting calories so I'm pleasantly surprised with a loss, considering I only trained twice and we ate out 3 nights for dinner :S  I have still been nesting like crazy which is bizarre as I think I nested for about 1 day with my first pregnancy.  So I did sacrifice exercise a few times for spring cleaning.  Even though it wasn't a great week of training I do feel a sense of accomplishment in getting some much needed organising done around the house, mind you though I still have a long way to go, but I also look at it as I've also got alot of extra calorie burning to do too ;)
The biggest effect of only training 2 days this week is I've been one cranky mummy!  I don't just exercise because I'm wanting to lose my baby weight, I exercise because it gives me more energy and makes me feel soooo much better.  And once again by having a slack training week I've proved that to myself.  I woke up yesterday morning in a bad mood for the second day in a row so within the first 2 hours of being awake I had already done my meal plan and training schedule for this week.  I came across a great quote on a facebook page this week (and I can't for the life of me remember which page but I'll try to find it and share):

This quote just reminded me of why I get up early, even when I've had the worst night sleep, and why I put my LJ gear and joggers on, even when I feel like I have no energy.  The feeling after a great workout is one I wish I could bottle up and sell because I know I would be a guaranteed millionaire :)
So I've scheduled lots of early morning workouts this week, which is going to be a struggle because I haven't been training early mornings in the last couple of weeks.  But I have 2 motivations for getting up - the first is I know it makes me feel so much better all day after I train early, and the second is I am preparing to go back to work for a few hours a week very soon and they will be early shifts so I may as well start getting used to it now :)  I'm sure my clients and class participants don't want a tired, grumpy trainer/instructor yelling at them lol.  My other goal this week is to drink more water.  With the weather turning cooler this week I know I've hardly been drinking any water and my skin is showing the effects. 
I'll leave you with my training schedule for the week.  I would love to know what you have planned, let me know :)

Monday - 6am BodyPump, 4:30pm BodyCombat
Tuesday - 30mins Treadmill Intervals (will have to do this workout during the day with the kidlets)
Wednesday - 6am BodyCombat (Timmie you have permission to text me at 5:30 to make sure I've got my butt out of bed lol)
Thursday - 6am Walk dog, 4:30pm BodyPump
Friday - 6am BodyPump
Saturday - 6am - Walk dog and 3 rounds of 50 squats/pushups/lunges/crunches/50secs hover
Sunday - Rest day

Holiday hints....

Weigh in on Sunday showed no change - no loss, but no gain.  I will admit I have been off the wagon the last couple of weeks and any reasons I have for it are just excuses.  Sick daughter, new puppy, social engagements are all just things that happen in life (ok my husband is kinda wishing the new puppy didn't happen in our life haha) and I can give them all as reasons as to why my eating has been a bit off the rails and why I missed a few extra training sessions last week but I know it's all bulls$%t and I take full accountability for it and it shows on the scales.  However on the plus I am excited that I am starting to fit into some more pre-pregnancy clothes *happy dance*.
So this week my husband arranged for a week off work and I had been researching accommodation on the Sunny Coast for about 2 months and then I bought a puppy.  So no holiday money and a new addition to the family means we are now staying home for the week :(  BUT I'm still trying to treat it as family time and if this weather clears up we are going to play holidays at home by visiting some local tourist attractions.  So the biggest effect that will have this week is I'm not hitting the gym.  My aim is to train a few times this week early in the morning before everyone wakes, or I will try fit in some high intensity, short workouts at home during the day.  I'm also not going to be super strict with food as I will enjoy this week (all within moderation of course, holidays aren't a reason to eat every possible unhealthy thing in site) and will be back on schedule next week.
So since I'm pretending I'm on "Vay-cay" I thought I would share some holiday hints with you all.  Just remember that just because you're on holidays it doesn't mean you should drop all your training plans and healthy eating habits.  You can enjoy your holiday while still staying active and eating well.

1.  If you are travelling pack healthy snacks.  We have done many a drive to Brissy/Sunny Coast spending 7 or 8 hours in the car and I know how hard it can be to find healthy options at the local servos.  Instead of packing lollies, chocolates, soft drinks for the car trip pack a little esky or cooler bag with water bottles, fruit, nuts and cereal bars (just check sugar content in cereal bars as same can be as bad as lollies/chocolates).
2.  Pack your joggers.  Get out and explore by foot your holiday surroundings.  If for safety reasons you don't feel comfortable venturing out do a workout in your apartment/motel room.  Squats, pushups, crunches, planks/hovers, burpees, jogging on the spot are all things that require no equipment and no gear. 
3.  During my years as a trainer I have heard numerous times ladies say to me after their return from holidays that they did no exercise but they shopped lots.  Yes shopping is great incidental exercise BUT my biggest worry when you think like that is because you think you have walked around the shops all day you can now eat even more crap at dinner.  Reality is you've probably "strolled" around the shops more so than walked and if you are fairly active and mobile in your normal day to day life chances are that you've probably burnt about the same amount of energy anyway.  So justifying your holiday dinner of entree, fat laden (there's a reason they taste sooo good) main meal and of course the obligatory holiday cocktail or champers by saying "it's ok cause I shopped all day" is crap. 
4.  When eating out at night always only order 2 components of dinner ie entree and main, or main and dessert.  Or better still just order main and share an entree or dessert.  And look for options to order your main in an entree size.  And for every drink you have follow it with a water.
5.  And lastly if you have been training hard and eating relatively well prior to your mini break, don't be too hard on yourself for enjoying your holiday.  It's ok to miss a few days of training every now and then.  And it's ok to eat your side of fries when you don't do it all the time.  But don't go overboard!! The last thing you want is for all those weeks of hard work to be wasted in one short week.  Remember moderations is key.
Well since I'm in un-holiday mode I just have to post one more holiday pic to get me in the mood.  I'm signing off for the week to go sit in my spa, overlooking the sunset with a midori in my hand (well really I'm going to bath my children and wash the dishes - what a glamorous life us mum's lead).  See you all when I get home ;)

Never having a week off cardio training again!

Well I'm a bit late with my weigh in blog this week but I still did weigh in on my regular day - Sunday.  Weigh in was up 300g which I'm actually ok with, as I had such a bad week training wise and food wise.  Just quietly I was very worried it may have been more than that.  Although I did hit a milestone last week by fitting into a pair of pants that I hadn't been able to since being pregnant which was exciting (yes I'm excited by the little things lately lol). 
So last week with the rather unpleasant disruption of a sick 2 year old I didn't really get alot of training time.  Mind you that is a bit of an excuse because I could have managed to do more if I really wanted to.  But having said that it doesn't hurt to drop the intensity back occasionally in training for a recovery for your body and sometimes your mind.  So if you have been training hard and have an off week PLEASE don't beat yourself up for it.  It could actually make your results better in the long run.  So I only managed 3 Bodypump classes and absolutely no cardio sessions at all.  And didn't I pay for that on Monday when I did Bodycombat!!  I team taught the class and luckily I was only teaching 4 of the 10 tracks.  By track 7 (that nasty, nasty Muay Thai track) I was absolutely shattered.  But the best thing about being in a class is no matter how much it hurts, you never want to stop ;)

BodyCombat 49 Launch (3 weeks ago) - Timmie and myself



This week has been a great week so far - 2 BodyPumps, 2 BodyCombats and a walk.  But I'm obviously a sucker for punishment cause my baby boy has just started sleeping through and I went and got myself a new baby yesterday, a super cute Maltese x Shih tzu puppy.  So I had a very restless night with the puppy, not the baby.  But I figure now was a good time to get a puppy since I'm used to having no sleep lol.  So the training may go out the window over the next couple of days while we try and settle the new addition. 

Bella and 'Barbie'

I'll leave you all with a mini workout for the week.  This week I've chosen a cardio workout that can be done on a treadmill or outdoors:

1.6km run (or walk) - 3 mins recovery

1.2km run (or walk)- 2 mins recovery

800m run (or walk) - 1 min recovery

400m sprint (or jog)

Try to increase the speed as the distance gets shorter.  Love this workout, without even realising it you've run 4km.  Enjoy the rest of the week :)

Lunch Time!!

I haven't had my best week this week unfortunately.  My little miss 2 came down with the delightful vomiting bug Tuesday night (which I was unlucky enough to experience all down my top 5mins before I had to teach a Bodypump class - the glamorous life of a mother).  I spent Tuesday night with her on the lounge room floor and me on the couch, and we were watching Barbie DVD's at 2am - I must say I much prefer the shopping channels ;)  Needless to say on Wednesday I was shattered!!  I was extremely tired and had a very whiny little girl so the exercise and clean eating went straight out the door.  I will admit I am a victim of the 'emotional eating' and I find I suffer really bad from it when I'm tired.  And it's a vicious cycle cause when you're tired and then eat crap, you're going to be even tireder.....is that even a word?  So I did fall off the wagon a bit this week and the meal I found has suffered the most was my lunches.  Even though I didn't have huge calorie blowouts, I only had cheese and crackers for lunch for the last 4 days which has very little nutritional value and left me looking for anything sugary I could get my hands on (yep I've even been eating the poor girls toilet training lollipops lol).  So it's a perfect time for not only you guys, but myself, to give you some healthy, easy and satisfying lunch ideas.

Some of my favourite and regular lunch's are:
*  Turkey and cranberry Mountain bread wraps - spread cranberry jam on one end of a wrap, place 40-50g of turkey on it and then top with spinach and sprouts.  I also added a slice of swiss cheese for the first time the other day and it was divine!  As I only use 1 wrap for this one I find it may not be filling enough (comes in at about 150 cals without the cheese) so I will also have a yoghurt or fruit etc.

*  Tuna Salad (pic below).  Small tin tuna in springwater with whatever salads you like and a serve of fetta cheese.

*  Egg sandwich (I only have these if I have bought fresh bread as I'm a bit fussy lol)  I use 1 egg with a bit of mayo and top with spinach.

*  Meat and salad Mountain bread wrap (pic below).  I will either use a small tin tuna in springwater or my new discovery is the Moira Mac's diced chicken breast (find in the same section with the hams, Bacon etc).  I use 2 wraps as I top the meat with heaps of salads - cucumber, carrot, grated cheese, beetroot, spinach and beans - and it just stops the wrap from breaking up. 

Probably 80% of my lunches are one of the above meals.  I love the convenience of tuna and I always seem to have heaps of tins in my pantry.  Plus it is low calorie (in springwater, watch out for some of the oily and/or flavoured ones) and high protein.  I also love, love, love the convenience of the Mountain bread wraps.  When you purchase them they usually have at least a months expiry on them (unopened) and they are also low calorie. So both the tuna and wraps are great pantry items.  And I always purchase fresh salad, vegies and fruit each week so I've always got things to put on the wraps.  But for all the busy new mummies I find the turkey wrap is so quick and easy to make.  It's always my lunch on days when I'm busy, eating late or just feeling lazy lol.  I hope this gives you some ideas anyway.
Well my little man is beside me demanding some love and attention so I must go and entertain him.  I have to admit I'm not looking forward to my weigh in tomorrow after such a big loss last week and a shocking week this week.  But I'm prepared to take the good with the bad :)

The highs after the lows.

Weigh in on Sunday was my best yet - 1.8kg down thank you very much.  I admit I did do a bit of a happy dance.  I know my weight fluctuates heaps when breastfeeding so will see how weigh in goes this week, especially as I did a huge double workout on Saturday which nearly killed me(Bodycombat and Bodypump).  I did have a fantastic training week though as I was covering some Bodypump classes so I did 4 pumps and we launched the new Bodycombat at gym so did 2 classes of that, and 1 walk.  I love Bodypump!!  If you push yourself in the workout it really can change your shape and I love the feeling of working towards a strong, lean physique.  But if you don't have a gym membership it's just a matter of doing some body weight exercises at home.  Don't forget the tabata workout is a fantastic one to help lose weight, increase strength and tone up http://pregnancyweightlossjourney.blogspot.com/2011/09/tabata-training.html
Ok so I promised I would post the recipe for my banana bread.  I own a thermomix (seriously the best purchase of my live EVER) and it takes me about, oh, 2 mins to whip this up in it.  I'll post the Thermy recipe and then a conversion as well.  I'm only guessing how to do the conversion as I've never made it any other way so if you find a better way than what I've posted, please let me know so I can change it :)

Ingredients:
100g Self Raising flour
50g butter
75g brown sugar
50g sultanas (or dates)
15g walnuts (I used an additional 15g on top also)
1 egg
225g Banana flesh

Thermomix Method:
Chop the sultanas/dates and walnuts on speed 7 for 15secs.  Put aside for later.
Add flour and butter to bowl and crumb on speed 5 for 5secs.  Add the sugar, walnut and sultana mixture, egg and bananas.  Mix on speed 7 for 10secs.  If the mix looks too runny add an extra tbs of SR flour.
Pour into a loaf tin and place a few walnuts on top and bake in a preheated oven on 180 for 35mins. 

The Longer Method (on the plus side you will burn more calories making this):
Chop your sultanans/dates and walnuts as finally as possible. 
Add flour and butter to bowl and using fingertips crumb together.  Add the sugar, walnut and sultana mixture, egg and mashed bananas.  Mix together using a wooden spoon until everything is combined well (this will take you longer than 10secs lol).  I'm guessing you could mix this in the blender too if you wanted.  If the mix looks too runny add an extra tabs of SR flour. 
Pour into a loaf tin and place a few walnuts on top and bake in a preheated oven on 180 for 35mins. 

I cut mine into 10 slices.  This is the nutritional breakdown on each slice:
Calories - 145
Carbs - 22g
Fat - 5.8g
Protein - 2.3g

The worst thing about this banana bread is having the willpower to just have 1 piece!  So I'll leave you with a workout today, that you may need to do after having your banana bread (especially if you have that second slice)
Four rounds of:
25 squats
20 lunges
15 crunches
10 pushups