Vote for me!!!

So I don't know if anyone even actually reads my blog but.............if you do.........

VOTE FOR ME!!!!

Voting has now opened for Maxine's challenge.

1. Go to http://www.maxineschallenge.com.au/2013/maxines/user-profile.php?Jo+Forrest-1345

2. Register your email or sign in with Facebook

3. Click on "view completed challengers"

4. Search 'Forrest' and select my profile

5. Click on 'vote for me'

6. Give me all 3 votes

7. Repeat steps 2-6 for all of your email addresses

8. Open email from Maxine's to confirm your vote

9. Share with the world

10. Cross your fingers for me ;)

Not really expecting to get top 30 but would be nice!!

Challenge completed!

My official before and after photos! I'm very happy with my results :)

Maxines Challenge - one week to go!

 

 

One week to go! I have mixed feelings about the end of the challenge..........

Of course, there's the worry that I haven't done enough........trying to cram this week.......stressing that I won't look the way I want........

But that is all ridiculous! I HAVE done enough! I've done exactly what I wanted to do. That is, stick it out for the 12 weeks, not miss any training sessions, be 100% on with my nutrition, get a six pack, and be in the best physical shape of my life.  I've done all those things! Unbelievable! Sure, there's still some work to go on my legs - I'd like more definition in my calves and thighs but I know that will take time and I just need to keep working at it.  I'm pretty much happy with everything else I see in the mirror.

Cramming this week is also ridiculous! Muscle doesn't grow in the space of a week - not that much anyway! Sure, I can definitely make sure I do weights and cardio every day, particularly the cardio to drop the last bit of body fat off my belly but that's pretty much it. No point busting my gut - not sure what that will achieve.  I've already done all the hard work.

So I'm trying really hard to not make this week a big deal.  Not much will change and things will just roll on.

Which brings me to the next point...............WHAT after the challenge???

Lots of people have asked me this in the last week. What do I plan to do? Will I continue with the nutrition? Will I keep my training up? Do I have a new goal? These things are all slowly coming together in my head.  At the moment, I'm thinking I will continue with my training.  I love going to the gym every day and I love doing weights and getting stronger. So not much will change there.
I'd really like to get back into my running a bit more.  So I'll probably start to increase my running distances gradually, working up to a half marathon distance in March and see what after that.  3-4 runs per week should do that.

Nutrition??? I'd like to think that I'll following the 90% 10% rule in that 90% of the week I eat clean and 10% I can be more relaxed.  That's all well and good in theory but I know it's going to be hard to do in reality.  I enjoyed my week in Noosa where I was a bit more relaxed with my nutrition.  Nothing major but not as tight as I am at home.  But I can definitely see that the week of more relaxed eating doesn't take long to appear as fat! My six pack disappeared pretty quickly and it's taking some hard work to bring it back.  So hopefully that is enough of a discouragement for me to go crazy with the food.  But I am definitely looking forward to enjoying food at special occassions.  And I am REALLY looking forward to my reward dinner - dinner at my favourite Italian Restaurant - Gusto da Gianni's! Garlic Bread, Gnocchi, Italian Doughnut, my favourite wine, I've had my meal all sorted out for weeks now and I am going to enjoy it so much.  I have a feeling I'm going to feel quite sick after it but I don't care! I've earned it!

And finally, a future goal.................I'm not there yet.  I think it will take me a couple of weeks at the end of this challenge to take a break, relax a bit, enjoy myself and think about what next.  It will probably end up as a running oriented goal but something else might crop up that I have never considered...........just like this challenge did!

Lets do this!

4 weeks to go and it's time to pull out all the stops.

first task ........drop some more body fat. I've been very cautious about my weight on the scales and how low it is dropping (currently sitting around 46.5kg). And as a result, I have backed off the cardio. But with just 4 weeks to go and an absolute fear that I won't get to where I want to be, it's time to bring back the cardio!

second task.........no more protein balls. I made these last week and although they are full of goodness (almonds, protein, cranberries, goji berries) they are delicious and I eat too many. They are all gone now and there's no way I'm making any more!

Finally..........Improve the weight workouts. After watching Max's tv last night, I introduced a couple of new things into today's session - 2 second hold on each rep, 5 second hold on final rep (if possible) and drop sets (Lower weight for final set, rep till failure). Will be doing this at each session from here on.

So today was Day 1 of the final 4! And I've had a ripper! Awesome legs set this morning which resulted in very shaky legs by the end ........and a 10km run on the treadmill tonight. Feeling very pleased with myself. These legs better be sore tomorrow!

On a side note, it was my brothers 40th birthday on the weekend. I wore a lovely dress that a friend gave me. Very different to what I would normally wear but I am feeling so good about my boy that I'll wear anything and rock it! I was pretty good with my nutrition. Managed to resist all the desserts at the party on Saturday night. But Sunday night was a different story. I thought long and hard and decided that I would enjoy a piece of potato kuchen (my nanas recipe) with a scoop of icecream. With some conditions........that's it for the next 4 weeks, and it had to be guilt free. I didn't want to have it and then regret it, so I decided that I was going to enjoy it, and would not be racked by guilt after. It was delicious, I did enjoy it, and I don't feel guilty at all! 1 piece of cake in 10 weeks is not going to kill me!

Finally, i must be happy with the way I'm looking.........I wore a crop top on the treadmill tonight! Bring back the crop top! I love running in just a crop but the first time in a while is always a bit nerve racking! Woo hoo!

Bring on the net 4 weeks!!!!!

Maxine's challenge - 8 weeks down!

My training diary

About 2 weeks ago I got myself a little notebook which I have made my training diary. Pretty simple - I just write down everything I do in terms of training. Sounds good but this has absolutely changed the way I train! I now know exactly what I'm doing in each session, what weights I did last time so I can try and do a bit more, which order I did them last time so I can change it up a bit. It's just great!

so the photos are a look at my last week. I'm pretty happy with it.

2 x legs sessions

2 x shoulders, chest and tris

1 x back and bis

2 x cardio sessions with 2 more to come on the weekend

Thats 5 weights sessions and 4 cardio - perfect!

Ive decided for the final 4 weeks of the challenge I am going to try and do each body part twice a week (legs, back&bis, shoulders&chest&tris). That's 6 sessions in the gym per week which I am already doing. I will continue with 3-4 cardio per week but I'm not looking to lose any more weight so don't want to overdo the cardio. Really need to just build some muscle now!

I also got some advice during e week from Kate and Wendy about nutrition. They advised to add some sweet potato in at dinner and increase the protein. This will prevent further weight loss and increase muscle growth. I've also decided to cut dairy so am now having my oats on water - doesn't taste too great but can live with it! The things we do!!!

So my daily nutrition now looks like this:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oats with water, handful blueberries, shake, long black

M Tea: 15g almonds and pear

After workout: 3 rice cakes and shake

Lunch: 100g chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice, salad or steamed veg

A Tea: shake or bar

Dinner: Meat and steamed veg and sweet potato

Snack: shake

Pretty basic but it does the job!

Weekend in noosa this weekend which I'm really looking forward to. No gym access but I did a Weiss set today knowing that I'd have 2 cardio days over the weekend.

Feeling positive and looking forward to some awesome changes over the next 4 weeks! Can't believe there's only 4 weeks to go!

Forgot to post!

15 September 2013, 10:44pm

Measurements and photos today. Happy to have lost more off my waist. Was hoping to have had better results in my legs - can't see much change in the photos. Perhaps the most change is the IDE view of my arms - getting some more muscle definition there.

feeling very impatient with the results. I know I've come a long way and the transformation already is fantastic but I'm still not looking the wy I want. Still 5 weeks to go but I think I need to start upping the ante a bit. I'm just not really sure how.

my nutrition is going well. I've started introducing a couple of low carb dys a week. That's going ok. Perhaps I cn increase that to 3/week??? Something to think about fbegone last 4 weeks.

so perhaps th only thingi can do is up my training. I am doing something every day so I'm not sure how th can happen. Maybe I should look at doing some more double session days. At the moment, the only double day I do is Thursday - walk in the morning and weights in the afternoon. I can definitely see if there are other days that I can double up - off the top of my head, Monday is a possible and th weekend. Will have to talk to Trent about it and look at his training schedule.

legs in the gym today. A pretty good session: 95 SM squats supersetted with walking lunges, and 2 sets of the 50 leg press. Was sore after but not now. Hopefully some soreness tomorrow.

a bit lost.....

Haven't blogged for a while.......not really sure why. Kind of feel like I have nothing to say. Nutrition is on track, training is on track. Perhaps slipping in enthusiasm a bit??? Not really sure.

Took some progress pics and measurements on Monday. Some small losses in the measurements which I'm happy about. I couldn't see much change in the photos and was pretty down about it. But my husband had a look and he said I'm crazy and proceeded to point out all of the muscle gains that I have made. I guess because its not fat that's going anymore, the changes are going to be slower and more subtle. I'm desperate for this 6 pack to arrive. most of the time I can't see it, but again, my husband says it is definitely coming. So I guess I just need to be patient.

Was supposed to go for a run this morning but the friend I run with isn't running so I've booked into the gym instead. Am thinking about doing a HiIT session but not sure what to do. Will have a look on the forums now and see what people suggest.

My husband will be home tonight and said that I could go to the gym if I wanted so will do that - good excuse for a double day! So perhaps I'll do legs this morning and some cardio tonight. As you can see, my head is all over the shop - need to get that sorted! Feel a bit like I'm going from day to day with no real plan and I'm not sure that's a good thing. 

Anyway, I'm going to go and get organised. By the end of today I will have a concrete plan for the next week and a half. I will post it here tomorrow so that I am accountable and don't need to continually doubt what I'm doing. That will get me through to week 8 and then I need a big push for the last 4 weeks.

just feeling a bit lost........