The thing about working out all the time, is that it leaves you no time to write about workout out all the time.
Reflecting back on the past 12 weeks, the programme I'm following has put me through a lot. I would be finishing it this weekend but due to still having a social life I have repeated a week at each stage which means I'm now projected to finish at the end of May. I. can't. Wait.
I can go back to having a life! In case you're unaware about the programme i'm following you can find it here:
It's intense and it's not easy and after the 2nd week it involves working out 6 x a week with each session lasting around an hour and a half. I go to the gym at 8pm after dinner and get home after 9:30pm. The workouts are too long for me to manage going before work, so I'm sure you can see why my eyes are now set on the finish line!
That being said, it can't be that bad right? Otherwise I wouldn't be willing to repeat weeks. And I will tell you for why... Because with every breakdown I have comes a breakthrough. Just when I feel ready to give it up, something happens that makes me proud and encourages me to keep going. At the beginning of phase 2 when I couldn't see any changes after 5 weeks of lifting, I found out I'd lost 2% body fat. Near the end of phase 2 when I was scared about the trialling workouts lying ahead, I began to see ab definition. Now it's only the 23 workouts that lay ahead standing in the way of the finish line.
And these are ultimately the most important 3 weeks. They're going to be seriously gruelling. Up until now I have been lifting increasingly heavy weights, building strong muscle and doing only a little cardio. Phase 3 has me doing light weights, high reps with active rests inbetween! That means instead of sitting back on Instagram whilst I wait for a minute to pass before doing my next set, I have to get up and skip, or burpee, or do crunches, or jump squats. You get the picture. It's pretty horrifying. And after this hour is up? It's off to the treadmill to do some HIIT training (high intensity interval training).
I always hated the idea of HIIT, I knew it was good for me but didn't have the drive to do it. What's surprised me the most about it is that I discovered a love for it. I sprint for 30 seconds and I stand on the edge of the treadmill for 30 seconds. I do this for half an hour. I have sweat dripping from just about everywhere, my heart is pounding, I'm out of breath. And I love it. It's a feeling I don't get from weight training, and it's easy to keep going because, well, 'it's just 30 seconds'.
Probably the biggest mountain to overcome in phase 3 is the dietry changes. I am now a carb cycler. God help you if you're already familiar with the term.
Carb cycling means you eat low carb & high carb on varying days so as to 'confuse' your body - it doesn't have a set source to take energy from so it begins to burn fat more efficiently. The programme laid out for me sees 4 low carb days to 1 high carb day. I'm currently on day 3 low carb and let me tell you, this ain't easy.
I'm a miserable bitch by the time I get home from work. I try and save most of my daily carb allowance for dinner so I have some extra fuel for my workout, so that means by the time dinner roles round, I've gone a fair few hours without any carbs and walking becomes more effort than it should be. Think how you feel when your blood sugar levels fall. This basically means I'm too exhaustwd to be happy and nice and polite. You may now feel sorry for those closest to me.
Dinner on a low carb day, turkey with spinach & mushroom seasoned with cumin, garlic and chilli. Served with a tiny sweet potato fry serving, half a pepper and some asparagus
So why is all this crazy stuff happening? I've learnt more than I thought possible over the past few weeks. But that's my nature, I want to understand what's going on rather than just being told what to do - that way i have a shot at making it on my own once it's all over. Teach a man to fish and all that...
From what I understand, we built all the muscle at the beginning so that now, during phase 3, we can afford to lose a bit. Basically when burning fat this intensely, it's impossible to expect your body to just burn fat. You're going to lose some other stuff along the way.
I can't wait to see the final results in 3 weeks time. The end is in site and I'm going to work super hard until the very last day. And that's why my May monthly challenge is to give myself a break!
Working, food shopping, prepping, managing something that used to resemble a social life and of course all these crazy workouts has left me little to no time to do anything for myself.
I really wanted my new site to be up and running by now but just haven't had the time to work on it. But it's not going anywhere and it will get done eventually. You'll just have to bare with my ugly blog for a little while longer 😉
My sustainability challenge opened my eyes to a lot of things and I've slowly been making the transition into using skin care products from sustainable companies. I'm only doing what I can afford to do - which isn't a great deal. But every little helps and I'm learning about some fab new companies I previously didn't know about who are delivering amazing products whilst doing great things for the planet. Like purenuffstuff. I've just ordered some of their products & will update on these later.
So once my 15 weeks of agony is finished I'll be sure to update you all, once I've enjoyed some well deserved me time of course.
Wish me luck for my final phase and I'll see you on the other side!
Peace
Minnie
xXx
