SCC Week 2 Weigh In and Week 3 Goals

So it was week 2 weigh in today with SCC update:

Weight: 13 Stone (-5lb)


Arms: 13" (+0.4")
Chest: 33" (-1")
Waist: 32" (Same)
Stomach: 40.2" (-0.8")
Thighs: 23" (same)
Calf: 17" (Same)


So most of measurements are the same, so I'm hoping when my leg is better and I can start to train again that I will trim up a bit. The big thing is the weigh loss. I'm fairly hesitant to scream and shout about the supposed 5lb weigh loss. I'm thinking I never really put any on, it was just my totm that made it seem like I had but its nice to know that I'm not that big.


SCC update:

• Losing inches - Like I mentioned staying roughly the same but think it will improve with time. 
• 1 mile time - Still 11.12, as had to take break from running
• Size - Clothes are definitely getting big, So I'm thinking this one will happen.
• Calories - Not doing calories at all. So restricting and time consuming. I'm trying to start again this week
• Water - Currently exceeding 6 Glasses a day. Whoop go me!
• Exercise  - Exercise 4 times due to injury
• Gym  - Went twice again because of injury
• Swimming - No 
• Zumba - No 
• Horse Riding - Complete for month
• Blogged - Have Blogged twice a week every week so far and have been supporting other challengers

How was week 2?


Did you have any a-ha moments?
When I went for a 7 mile walk, I realised just how fantastic it was to do exercise outdoors, even in winter.


What was your biggest success?
Got rid of the weight I had *put* on and didn't have any chocolates from the Milk tray sat in the office :D


What was your biggest struggle?
Not exercising due to my injury. I Wanted to exercise but knew it would be better to just not exercise and wait for it get better.


Week Three Goals:

• Enjoy my birthday.
• Work extra hard before and after so I can have a really good time.
• Get my leg healed up, so taking it easy and not rushing back in.
• Stick to healthy eating on non celebratory meals.
• Get into 12 stone realm on scale

Emily x

Less Exercise, Less Food?

Due to my injury, this week has been quite quiet on the exercise front. I exercised on Monday and Tuesday but had to stop because the calf muscle in my left leg developed a knot and was really tight. I realised that I wasn't stretching properly after running but I've learnt from it and won't make the same mistake again.

After three days rest, I decided I could probably exercise again (I had been stretching and massaging leg whilst time off). My house mate and I took a walk in the lovely January cold air :D We walked roughly 7 Miles. It was absolutely brilliant. It was fantastic to spend some time with her, exercise my leg out and just get out of the house and away from the television. I will be trying to take more walks and will try going with various people. It's great way to spend some quality time together.

Today's exercise consisted of Horse Riding. I go with my work colleague and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't very happy when the horse was slipping, silly ice but cantering across the fields is just amazing! 

So at the end of the weekend, my leg is feeling ok. So I'm going to try and start easing back into exercise next week but I'll see how it goes, as my ankle is doing something funny too! :o eek!

Referring to my Blog title, I had a small revelation (very small) and realised that as soon as I stopped exercising my hunger levels went right down and I found it extremely easy to eat less food. I feel like I'm starting to be able to listen to my body and understand what it's trying to say.

On a side note, I've signed up for a 3 day free trial to a gym in town. I really fancy seeing another gym and trying out their sauna :D I only feel a little guilty!

Tonight my house mates and I cooked a Frittata with fresh veg and goat's cheese. It was absolutely amazing and so delicious. We scored it 8 out of 10. It was one of the recipes out of my cookbook that I got for Christmas. We've decided to cook one every Sunday night (as best we can). It should be a lot of fun and will definitely help me get out of my food rut.

Frittata with Fresh Veg and Goat's Cheese

I will be weighing in tomorrow night and hoping I've maintained because of my injury. I'm a little worried but we'll see how it does. I've been feeling much happier this week and as long as I'm happy that's the main thing.

My birthday is on Friday, so next weekend I will do my best but I will probably gain. Hoping to have a really good four days of exercise and eating well before and I'm using my 3 day trial in the week after. So I shouldn't get much at all and as I've learnt I will eat smaller portions. 

Everything in Moderation.

I wish all my fellow Spring Chicks good luck with their weigh ins :D

Emily xx

Spring chick challenge Week 1 Check in and Week 2 Goals

Right time for the bad news!!

Weight: 13 Stone 5Lbs (+3lbs)

So in theory I've put on 3lbs! In reality I'm just heavier because I'm now weighing myself in the evening. I am heavier but I'm not going to take this lying down. I will be weighing myself in every Monday after Work (roughly 6pm) and will stick to it. There may be another bump in the road when I receive my digital scales but hopefully after that I will be able to see my BMI and fat ratios etc etc. Much more accurate!

Arms: 12.6" (-0.4")

Chest: 35" (Same)

Waist: 32" (+1")

Stomach: 41" (+1")

Thighs: 23" (same)

Calf: 17" (+1")

So not the best week measurements wise but again not gonna let it get me down. Been a trying first week!

Things to discuss and/or consider...

What worked?

I've managed to do all my exercises, which I'm quite pleased with.

What didn't work?

I didn't keep to my calories at all, need to get motivated in this area again.

What can you not wait to do again?

I can't wait to run 2km again and even further!

What are you never going to do again?

I won't try and stop eating bread all together. I don't eat a lot as it is! So it was a bit silly!

Discuss your biggest obstacles and how you over came them.

My biggest obstacle is the food. I see all my friends eating nice things and find myself saying oh one or two won't hurt!! I think I'm deluding myself.

Did you receive enough support? Or do you need/ want more support?

Everyone on the Blog is being really supportive. My support at home is waning, so I may talk to them and tell them I'm struggling etc. It may help. My friend Nikki and I are talking about it, which helps. It would be great if I could find someone in the area, who is trying to do the same thing.

Week 2 Goals

Stick to Calories as much as possible.

Feel positive. Do some visualisations on goals etc

No Chocolate (after last weeks Choc Fest)

Try the eating with alternative hand challenge

So all in all I'm going to take a leaf out of Maren's book and remain positive. I can do this, no matter how long it takes. 

On another note

I'm currently suffering from an injury. I suffer from a tight calf muscle in left leg, which is currently active and causing me a lot of pain. I've realised why it's happening, I'm not stretching enough after my runs :( Silly Emily! I know!

So I didn't exercise yesterday because of it and probably won't for a few days. I'm trying to not get down about it. What exercise can I do that won't put strain on my leg?

Also any remedies? I'm currently stretching it out every 3 hours ish. A friend is also going to massage it this weekend (She's doing a course in sports massage). 

Thanks to you all,

Emily x

Weigh In Post-poned

Hello all,

Just a quick update. I have decided to postpone my weekly weigh in for a couple of days. This is basically due to me being on my period at the moment. I really want to weigh myself and get an accurate portrayal of my weight. I know it sounds like an excuse but I don't want to feel de-motivated for no reason. I'm also in a very positive mood, so I'm hoping a couple of really good days will make the scales kinder to me and therefore give me a boost of confidence.

So I will weigh in as soon as it finishes, so by the end of the week.

I'm also thinking of changing my weigh in days/times. When do other people weigh in and what time of the day do you do it?

On a positive note, I ran 2km last night. So I've already completed my weekly Goal! I also timed my Mile - I'm currently running 11.12 Mile, so have to lose 1.12 by the end of this challenge. I think this is achievable.

I also decided that not eating bread wasn't a good goal, so I've scrapped that. I don't eat a lot of it as it is and what I do eat is wholemeal nimble. So about 58 Calories for a slice!!!

Right will Blog more soon. Just wanted to keep you all updated.

Emily x

A Good Ending to a Bad Week

So I'm going to have to face it. It was not the ideal start to the year.

I think the main problem is that I feel as if I'm in a rut. I basically do the same thing every week and eat the same foods. It's an ongoing circle that never seems to end but I don't know how to change it. People keep saying change it up but its not as simple as that. I can't just change my life that easily, I also most likely can't afford it. I don't mean to sound so pessimistic but I'm finding it really tough to change.

I have decided to go swimming on a Sunday night now, so that I can get better use of the Gym at work on a Monday. (My gym is only available Mon-Fri). I'm hoping it will help me exercise at the weekend more. I particularly love swimming, except all the other pesky people in the pool :p

I got a cookbook for Christmas, River Cottage Veg Every Day. So I'm going to try and cook something from that every week. Again my biggest problem with that at the moment is the lack of funds to buy the ingredients. So hopefully will start that officially at the beginning of Feb.

My week in terms of exercise was very good actually. I exercised 5 out of the 7 days with plenty of walking on one of the other days. However on the negative side I didn't really have a very good week with food. To start with I couldn't figure out why I was eating so much, but at the end of the week I came on. So I now realise that probably had a lot to do with my food issues and why I have been feeling so down. I still think I'm a rut but now I'm not so upset about it. It's funny every month I forget I feel like this when I'm due on but still I get all emotional and the diet goes funny. Must remember.

I found out something awesome the other day. I'm a vegetarian you see and I discovered 1/4 of a packet of 300g of Quorn is only 27 calories (think my calculations are right). How awesome is that :D Made me feel very happy! I love that stuff!

I meant to ask you all: How much exercise do you think is too much? As I was considering going to the gym at lunchtime and then going Swimming after work. I don't want to overdo it but I think I may be erring too much onto the side of caution with my exercise schedules. You see I only get so long at Lunch to spend in the Gym, so my typical Gym session at the moment is as follows:

10 mins warm up x-trainers
Leg Press 3x 15 set
lap pull down 3 x 15 set
fit ball roll under my (lying on back, can't remember name) 3 x 8
Press up 3 x 8
Dumb bell swing 6kb 3 x 12
Lunges 3 x 12
Run 1-1.5km

I've booked into see my trainer on the 25th, so hopefully I can start changing it up a bit more soon but I want to know after doing that is it ok to do more exercise in the evening? Am I not doing enough exercise?

It's weigh day tomorrow and I'm absolutely petrified of it. I ate cake this week, friends birthday but cake non the less. I know I shouldn't feel so guilty but I do.

Well weigh in and measurements tomorrow my friends.......

Emily xx

p.s Goal for the week is to try and run 2km..... wish me luck :D

Back to the Gym aka Aches and Pains

Back to the Gym yesterday and my legs ACHED!! :(

I can't believe how much they ached. I thought this kind of aching was over and done with. Thankfully after today's Gym session they feel a bit looser. Will just have to work through the ache I guess, get back up to my normal work out level.

Since Christmas I've started sweating a lot more whilst exercising, a friend told me that means it means I'm getting fitter. Has anyone else heard of this?

I  ran 1.5km today in the Gym. Feeling very proud of myself. The best way to do it I'm finding is to run 1km and then assess whether I can carry on or not at that point. I'm still hoping to do Race for Life this year, so I need to train up to 5km. Once I get a date for RFL then I will figure out what 5km training programme I should do. Any suggestions?

A sad thing about this month is that I'm very poor, which means I may have to cut back on some of exercises that I pay for i.e Swimming. Thankfully after my Christmas purchases I should be able to do a mini gym workout at home instead but we'll see how this month goes.

Unfortunately I had a small Cheese binge last night. It wasn't a massive amount and it was low fat but I probably shouldn't have eaten it. I'm not going to beat myself up about it but I do feel I need to get some more healthy snacks into my cupboard to avoid such situations.

Concerning the challenge I'm doing okay but I think I'm struggling on the food part. I'm going to give it two weeks. If I feel I'm not doing well, I'm going to Blog what I'm eating and exercising every day for a week and see what you all think about my regime?

Catch up soon

Em x

Starting Measurements for Spring Chicks

Hello All,

Been having some final 2011 fun and now down to the task at hand. I decided to start my measurements today, as I find Mondays are always a good starting point. You'll all be pleased to know that it seems I haven't put on any weight on over Christmas what so ever. :o I know!! Bluming heck! :D Very pleased though.

So here are my measurements (I'm sure you're dying to know).

Weight: 13 Stone 2Lbs
Arms: 13"
Chest: 35"
Waist: 31"
Stomach: 39.5"
Thighs: 23"
Calf: 16"

Currently a small 16/Big 14 in size

So I think I'm going to go Swimming today to start this off well :D

I wish you all good luck with your weight loss in 2012! We can do it! :D

Emily x