Live Fit

Week 1 of Jamie Eason 12 week live fit programme is down 💪

I know, I know I was supposed to start last week - but after moving house and getting organised I felt so run down last week. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body or you'll do some damage.

I've really enjoyed this programme and it's pushing me out of my comfort zone, just as my February challenge was supposed to. 

When I think back to all the things I've done that I'm proud of, they all have one thing in common. The one thing that put me off doing them and the one thing that spurs me to do it more.

They made me feel uncomfortable.

That feeling you get in your gut when you think about doing something new, something different. It feels scary and unatural and it ultimately has put me off a lot of things in the past. 

When I used to think about going for a jog I used to think, I don't have anything to wear, I don't know what I'm doing, people might look at me and laugh, what if I'm doing it wrong? 

How can anyone even jog wrong?! You can't. That's the answer. If you have to stop and walk for a minute so what?

I don't know what shifted for me psychologically back in 2012 but I'm glad it did. Whatever made me stop being scared and drove me to sports direct to get some cheap running trousers and a sports bra. That made me finally stop thinking about downloadin couch2 5K and actually go out and do it.

Completing that app was probably one of the best things I ever did for myself. For the first time in my life I stopped thinking that I was incapable of achieving anything. It drove down those negative voices in my head that constantly told me I wasn't good enough to do anything. It made me have belief in myself that if I set my mind to something and took the first leap out of my comfort zone that great things would follow. And that voice has never failed me or ceased to amaze me.

Fast forward a year and here I am. Starting a gym programme from bodybuilding.com! Something which would have terrified me before I educated myself on the human body and fitness.

The first step is always the hardest, getting pumped mentally and getting organised is so important. If my meals for the week are cooked and ready to be eaten, then all I have to focus on at the moment is getting myself to the gym 4 days a week for about half an hour. That's not so hard is it?

Going into the gym is another thing that makes me nervous though. Walking straight past the herds of people sweating it out on the cardio and taking my soft lumpy body to join the big boys with their minimal body fat in the weight section. I've done it 3 times this week and I still get nervous. It's silly really. Why should I let my nerves about what people I've never even spoken to, think about me, ruin my opportunity to get fit? The reality is, they don't care. And even if they did have a thought on the matter - I don't! 

So anyway I thought I'd share a bit about my diet on this programme and show you all that even the most novice of people can food prep. It's really not that scary.

My boyfriend and I drove last weekend to pick up a fridge freezer (£30 gumtree - winning) so we have all the space in the world for our delicious goodies.

I bit the bullet last night and ordered 5kg of chicken from musclefood for £25 (FYI 5kg of chicken would cost around £50 on a 3 for £10 deal in a supermarket). Even if you're not food prepping? It just makes sense. And by the way this was another thing which for some reason made me feel uncomfortable.

But this week I did things the expensive way and did my shop at Tesco. Here's what's going into my belly this week

5 egg whites with 1 portion of carbs (black beans) & unlimited veg (grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and asparagus).

I don't have much time in the morning so on Sunday I chopped all my mushrooms and put them in a lunchbox ready to stick on a tray to grill.

I also seasoned my beans with chilli and lime - I'm struggling a bit with them in the morning to be honest and going to make the swap for oats and berries from now on. Beans don't keep long either!

My veg takes next to no time to grill and I just pop my egg whites in the microwave. 

I made Jamie Easons carrot cake protein bars and these are amazing 😍😍😍.

I eat 4 squares per serving. The recipe, nutritional info and a video of how to make it are available here.

Carrot Cake Protein Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup oat flour (just oats in through the blender to make them fine)
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp all spice
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 cup natural sweetner
• Around 220g baby food carrots - See picture for what I used
• 115ml of water

I used more water as I didn't buy enough baby food!

Preheat the oven to 175. Mix dry ingredients, then mix wet ingredients and add together and give it a good mix. I used coconut oil to line my glass dish. Pour ingredients in and bake for around 20 - 30 minutes. Easy peasy.

So this was a bit of a dilemma for me because these are super sweet due to all the truvia. I would usually steer well clear of sweeteners, even ones that claim to be natural like so. I'm going to be experimenting with these and trying to lessen the quantity of sweetener in this as I really don't think it needs that much.

For my lunch and dinners I take my pick from one of these babys.

I made 12 of these, 4 steak and 8 chicken. This lasts me through to Saturday when it's easy for me to cook something up rather than needing the convenience of a ready made meal. 

The steak and prawn dish is an adaptation of a Jamie Oliver 15 minute meal. It's fillet steak, seasoned with Chinese five spice, lots of chilli, ginger, garlic, bean sprouts and coriander, prawns and soy. This should be served with noodles but I know I'm allowed 3/4 cup of brown rice so that's what I go with. It's so delicious and I was actually surprised by how well it reheated - obvs don't stick the romaine lettuce in the microwave...

For the chicken I make my own seasoning to avoid any nasties in the shop bought packets. 

Home Made Spicy Seasoning

4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chili flakes or cayenne pepper
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp salt

This is pretty spicy so chill out on the cayenne and chili OK? It also makes quite a lot so you can store it in a jar and use it again and again and again

I sprinkled this onto my chicken and stuck them all in the oven at the same time. Whilst they're cooking, I chopped my peppers and cucumber and put them into individual lunch boxes (ikea and tesco value have done the job). I cook up a load of brown rice in one go too - as I used it for my they dish). Once the chicken comes out my diced sweet potato goes in, roasted in coconut oil and a pinch of salt 👌.

I separate them into the lunch boxes et voila. Lunch and dinner for the week is served. 

I find all of this keeps no problem - peppers are pretty good at keeping crunchy, as is cucumber. When I'm ready to eat I just put my chicken & carb on a plate  as I'm not sure my lunch boxes are microwave friendly anyway! I ate my steak and prawn meals earlier in the week just to be safe but the sell by on both meats was long enough, so just check it out.

Our fridge by Sunday evening 

Now if you were going to try and prep say a salad (not for me thanks) a good move is to just chop all of your veg and keep it separate, mix it together into a lunchbox in the morning or the night before to avoid any soggy salads. You can also take your dressing in a little pot and do that at work or wherever you are.

I'm working on my afternoon snack/small meal because I made Jamie Easons turkey muffins... buuuuut they smell and I can't really eat them at my desk. So. that has been a bit of a fail, in the mean time i'm just having a protein shake until my next food prep rolls around. 

So that's it folks. Week 1 is over. So far so good, I'm still looking forward to the challenge and already feeling pretty good about myself if I may say so myself.

Peace

Minnie
xXx