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........

Life is good!

My birthday today! 35!!!!!

Ive had a pretty quiet day. A nice easy 6.5km run this morning. This was actually harder than it sounds because my legs and glutes are sooooo sore from my PT session yesterday. I'll briefly mention that first.

9 sets leg press @90kg! 9 sets! 3 x normal feet, 3 x narrow feet, 3 x wide feet (definitely the hardest)

followed by

5 sets of walking lunges - 16 x 7kg db, 16 x 10kg, 16 x 12kg, 16 x 12kg, 12 x 15kg

followed by

4 sets of seated calf raises @ 30kg

followed by 4 sets of leg press calf raises @ 64kg

That was enough! My PT (Michael) warned me that I would be pretty sore. Oh yeah! But I love it!

Back to my birthday today........

Some awesome gifts which I really needed - gym bag (my old one was falling to pieces), 2 pairs of gym shorts and a camera.

I also got myself a small gift - a chin up bar for home!!! I'm determined to do 5 unassisted by the end of this challenge. So I put it all together, hung it in the doorway and then thought I'd give it a go......bam......2 unassisted chin-ups!!!!! I can't believe it! All by myself!!! Now every time I walk past I jump up and crack out another 2. It just makes doing 5 so much more realistic. Very exciting!! I must be getting stronger!

We went out for dinner tonight. It's a tradition we have started since having kids that its birthday persons choice of restaurant. I chose Thai tonight because I knew I could get a meal that fit in my nutrition plan - stir fry chicken & veg with cashews and no sauce. Was lovely. So I've managed to get through my birthday with no hiccups. Saturdmidnight we are going out for a birthday dinner with friends. I'm sure ill find something to eat and would love to have a few drinks but not going to. I'll drive and then Trent will be able to have some for me!

On a totally different note, I have started a September abs challenge. I put it on my Facebook page and asked if any of my friends would like to do it with me. To my absolute surprise, there are 13 of us doing it! Some of my friends who don't do very much exercise are giving it a go and we've formed a lovely little group who report in each day on our progress and just generally encourage each other. I'm actually really proud that I've been able to get 13 people off the couch every day to do some form of exercise. And it helps me too because when I don't really feel like doing it, I just have to think of all of these girls who are doing it and it forces me to do it! I would feel like an absolute fraud if I didn't do it each day.

One of my friends even sent me a message saying that I was such an inspiration to so many people. This made me feel so good. Another friend told me that they are blown away by my commitment and dedication to the challenge. I'm still having trouble believing that people see me in this way. It's really nice! 

Life is so good!

Almost got me!

Last night was the closest I've come to skipping a training session. Poppy, my 4 year old is sick again, which meant is she couldn't go to Kindy yesterday, which meant I couldn't go for my run with the girls. Trent told me in the morning that he'd switch his training around and do a wind trainer set at home at night so that I could go to the gym after dinner.  All good.

Only problem is of course, by the time after dinner comes around, I really don't feel like going. So we're sitting at the dinner table eating and I mumble that I really don't want to go and do a run. Trent looks at me and asks why not. I'm just really tired and couldn't be bothered. He suggests exactly what I want to hear 'why don't you stay home, have an early night and do a double session tomorrow'. Music to my ears! S I decided thats what I'd do. Make it a rest day and do a run in the morning (instead of just a walk) and weights in the afternoon.

Dinner finished, Trent went upstairs to put Poppy to bed and I was left to clear away the table. Sitting at the table by myself, I started chastising myself: don't be so lazy, just go and get it done, if you miss this session the snowball will happen, one of your goals was to not miss any sessions, etc.........

Within 10 minutes I had dinner cleared away, dishes done and had changed into my running clothes. It was by this stage 7.15. With a 15min drive to the gym that would still give me enough time to get a decent run in and if I hurried, I could get there by 7.30 and watch Big Brother while I ran! Bonus (yes, as I said yesterday, I am sad).

So I have kept my rule of not missing any sessions which I'm really proud about. I must admit that if I wasn't doing this challenge, there is no way I would've gone last night. Guess its a good thing I'm doing the challenge!

To make my decision to go last night even more worthwhile, we had the worst night EVER with Poppy. She slept from 7.30 till 10.15 and then the coughing started. She coughed for 3 hours straight! We tried everything! So no Kindy again today which means no walk this morning and no gym this afternoon. Trent has a function at work from 5.30-7.30 so he won't be home until at least 8. He has said he'll come home early so that I can go to the gym but that makes me feel really guilty. So I told him not too. But I have a feeling he will anyway because that's the type of guy he is-supportive of me 100%.

So today I need to do something at home so that its not a wasted day. I dont have any equipment so I think I'll do an absolute blitz on my abs. Fellow challenger Carmen just posted an abs workout on Twitter so I think I'll give it a crack. Will see how it goes! Thanks Carmen!

Summary: I am super proud of myself for going last night. I'm continually amazing myself and learning so much about myself. I actually never realised how stubborn, persistent, determined I am. Yeah I've run a marathon and everyone says how that's such a great achievement and you have to be so disciplined and committed but I never really saw it like that. It was just a goal I had and the fear of not doing it was enough to get me out there running. But this challenge is different. I really, really want this. No one has had to push me to go train, or encourage me to make good nutritional choices. I just do it. I am so single-mindedly driven to get the body that I know I can have, that I am doing everything I need to do. And the results I have so far are just giving me even more desire to keep going and absolutely smash it. I guess my stubbornness, persistence and determination make this a challenge that suits me perfectly!

Maxine's challenge - week 4 - body fat numbers

So here are my numbers from body fat calculator today with my PT!!!

Awesome results! Points I am taking from it are:

• Current weight of 47kg. Thats a Loss of 6kg - I do not want to lose much more weight so going to need to think about perhaps increasing my nutrition a little and not increasing the amount of cardio I am doing. Trainer suggested including some eggs to breakfast so I'm going to try it - oats, coffee, shake and eggs on toast! My goodness!!! That's an awful lot of food! Might need to get up 30mins earlier o I have time to eat it all ;)
• 5% loss in body fat. Currently sitting at 17%. I was really hoping it would be under 20% so I'm really happy with that! Need to check what my goal % was at the beginning of the challenge - may need to reassess.
• Lean mass weight has gone down a bit so need to build more muscles!

I also spoke to my trainer about where to from here. We are going to start a split program as Maxine's have suggested. It will look something like this:

• Monday - shoulders and chest
• Tuesday - legs
• Wednesday - cardio (1hr easy run)
• Thursday - morning walk, afternoon whole body weights
• Friday - cardio (1hr easy run)
• Saturday - back and biceps
• Sunday - rest or easy cardio

This should see my gym time actually shorten to 45mins each day. Will take a bit to get my head around that idea. I was thinking that with 8 weeks to go I need to be doing more - spending more time in the gym and doing more cardio. But doing much more cardio won't be beneficial for gaining muscle and will possibly result in me losing too much weight.

My trainer has also done up an abdominal program for me. We didn't have time to go through it today so will do it next week. I'm looking forward to seeing it because I hate doing ab work and its always the thing that I conveniently don't have time for! So hopefully having a program specifically for core work will hold me more accountable.

5 days left of my push-up challenge. After doing shoulders and chest this morning I am SO thankful that today is a rest day for that challenge! Need to put some thought into a challenge for next month!

Maxine's challenge - week 4

Getting there!

Awesome day!

LOOK AT MY BACK!!!! I HAVE MUSCLES!!! 

Just a tad excited ;) Imagine what I'll be like when my 6 pack arrives!

Lots of photos today and that's because I've had an AWESOME day!

1. Killer whole body session at the gym with my husband as spotter. 

• Bench press 8 x 20kg, 8 x 25kg, 6 x 30kg
• cable flies 3 x 8 @ 23kg
• weighted squats 8 x 40kg, 8 x 50kg, 8 x 50kg
• weighted lunges 3 x 16 with 10kg db
• db rows in plank position 3 x 16 with 10kg
• lat pulldowns 8 x 30kg, 8 x 30kg, 8 x 36kg
• seated row 8 x 30kg, 8 x 30kg, 8 x 30kg
• ab twists with 10kg plate (3 x 30)
• woodchop with 10kg plate 3 x 20, 10 each side)
• assisted chin ups 2 x 5 (Trent holding ankles)
• leg press 3 x 8 with 120kg

With my husband there, I loaded up the weights and really worked hard. My shoulders are wrecked now! Also had him take some pics of me - I am super stoked with the way my back and shoulders are looking. It has given me a real lift and I am so inspired to keep going and get even more muscles!

2. Awesome nutrition - stir fried chicken, veggies and brown rice for lunch and made enough stir fry for dinner as well. Had my first double choc Maxine's bar and it was delicious! And I'm still having the long blacks with just a dash of milk. So killing it nutrition wise!

3. Finished off the afternoon with a lovely 50min walk. Was beautiful out in the sunshine and a great way to have a double session Saturday. And my little girl Matilda kept me company which was great. Suffering from some shin splints in my right shin today. Perhaps a result of my increased km's running this week. Always worse when walking but not enough to stop me.

Just a really great day all round. Second time this week that I've been able to do 2 sessions in a day and its great! Stepping things up now. Bring on the next 4 weeks!

The week that was

I'm feeling really good about my week. Although I've been pretty tired and negative (see last post), when I look back over the week I've actually done really well.

nutrition has been spot on. The only thing I have changed up is the night time protein shake. I cut it back to a half shake a couple of weeks ago and there have been some nights this week that I haven't had it at all. I'm not sure about this. I don't think I need to drop the calories and I feel like it does help with my recovery. So I'm going to make sure I have that shake.

Perhaps the most significant change I made this week was cutting milk out of my coffee. I know have a long black with just a dash of skim milk. Eventually I will drop all the milk but baby steps!

Training has been great! 

Sunday - 10km run

Monday - full body weights

Tuesday - PT - weights

Wednesday - 8.5km run

Thursday - 45min walk in morning + full body weights in afternoon

Friday - 8km run on treadmill

I have also been doing my push-up challenge which has increased to 90 push-ups today. And each night I have done some ab crunches, reverse crunches, oblique crunches and planks in front of the tv! 

So it's no wonder I'm feeling a bit tired - that's probably the biggest training week I've had to date.

Next week we move into the second part of the challenge. I've asked my PT to give me a new program on Tuesday and I'm going to talk to him about the suggetrain split training program Maxine's have provided. He is also going to do up an abdominal program for me AND were going to measure my body fat! First time since I started! Nervous and excited about that!

Measurements and photos on Sunday morning - cant wait!

I'm going crazy!

My mind is playing tricks on me!!! I think I'm going crazy!!!

I am constantly finding myself swinging between 2 opposing thoughts. At times I feel like everything is going well. I'm looking better in the mirror, the fat layer is disappearing and I'm getting some muscles.

Then at other times I feel like nothing is changing, all I can see in the mirror is the flabby bits and begin to doubt that they'll ever go away. I've been feeling like this a lot for the last couple of days. As a result, I've tried to increase everything I'm doing - more cardio, heavier weights, more ab/core work at night. 

Then tonight I get the voice of reason from the other couch - my ever supportive husband. He tells me that I'm doing well, my tummy is getting smaller, its a slow burn thing, there's still 8 weeks to go in the challenge, I can increase workouts if I need to at 8 weeks, and that I need to trust the process.

All things that I already know but get forgotten in my panic of it not happening fast enough.

i had my first comment today from one of the Kindy mums that I'm looking really good. She commented on how good my legs were looking. My initial thought is that she's just been nice. but perhaps people are starting to notice changes. 

Reading material

Just some light reading from the library!

I'm very interested to have a read of Shannon Ponton's book. I am a big fan of The Biggest Loser and Michelle Bridges is my inspiration. I'd love to have her body! I also like Shannon's training style on the show. Should be interesting reading and am hoping to learn a bit too!

Shannon's website

Getting impatient

I am so desperate to do measurements and photos but I am determined to wait another week. I am so worried that the changes won't be that much, that I want to leave it as long as possible. And I am absolutely going to flog myself for the next week to make sure I am blown away with the change. In particular, I'd really like to see an improvement in my thighs and a hint of some abs would just make my day! I'm definitely feeling different when I wash myself in the shower - not as wobbly which is nice! And I'm fitting into clothes which I haven't worn since before I got pregnant, and fitting into them easily! I'm even back in my size 8 petite super skinny jeans. I couldn't even get them pulled up a couple of months ago!

I'm feeling really positive about the whole challenge still. My stubbornness is holding fast and I haven't eaten a single thing that's not on the plan. And I haven't missed any training days. My unwavering desire to get the body i want is making it pretty easy. Im not going to speak too soon but I'm actually enjoying it. My husband is super supportive and that makes it so much easier. He has absolutely every confidence that I can achieve whatever I want and supports me the whole way. 

PT tomorrow morning and I always have that excited/nervous feeling because I can't wait to see what he has planned for me, but worried I won't be able to do it. Wish me luck!

Workout today

Another great workout today:

10 min warmup on treadmill

60 pushups

bench press - 3 x 10reps

weighted squats 3 x 10

weighted lunges 3 x 16

10kg dumbbell row in plank position 3 x 16

10kg plate ab twists 3 x 40

military press 3 x 10

dumbbell flies 3 x 10

leg press - Sam herons 50 x 2 (burn in the glutes was unbelievable!)

Pretty sore from PT on Tuesday but wanted to work hard so that Im still sore tomorrow ;) Therefore I loaded up the weights more than I have before and forced myself to keep going.  I have 10 days until I do measurements and photos again and I really want to see a change in my legs (particularly thighs).  So I'm going to really push my legs hard for the next 10 days - 4 runs/week of no shorter than 8km to strip the fat, heavy weight on squats and lunges, high weight/high reps on leg press-following Sam herons 50 (see pic). Fingers crossed.

Awesome workout

Killer PT session today!

4 sets of:

• 100 skips
• 10 bench press 
• 10 chin ups

4 sets of:

• 10 weighted squats
• 20 x 10kg plate woodchops
• 20 x 10kg plate standing ab twists

4 sets of (started with 7kg dumbbells, increased through 8kg, 9kg, 10kg for each set)

• 16 walking lunges
• 16 dumbbell row in plank position

No rests.

PLUS my 50 push-ups for the push up challenge!

Awesome workout!!!

And killed my nutrition too!

Super day!

Maxine's challenge - week 2

Great day today. Mass Nutrition Chermside my team for the challenge, put on a seminar this morning. Dale Ellis (Max's), Sam Heron and  Peter Sargent were there and gave us so much information and answered all our questions. It was so great to hear what they had to say and just continues this HUGE learning curve that I'm on. Definitely 3 very knowledgable and passionate people. Some things I came away with:

• Perhaps I am having too much protein. Supposed to be weight x 1.6 which has me at about 78g/day. I'm having more like 120-150. I think I will fix this by having 1/2 serves of shakes rather than full.
• Fasted cardio in the morning is excellent. This really bugs me because I just can't do it. Mornings are just too difficult with husbands training, breastfeeding, getting children ready, etc. Although I would love to be able to do it, I also think it wouldn't be the greatest thing to do for my breastfeeding. Firstly, it would be mighty uncomfortable and painful doing cardio before feeding, and I have a feeling it would effect my milk supply. So that ones out for me.
• I need to be doing more cardio. This decision isn't a result of the seminar but is something I have been thinking about for a few days and was confirmed today. Running has always been an excellent way of dropping weight for me. I am very good at controlling my running pace so that I stay in the fat burning zone. Pacing is definitely my strength. And running is something I can do either at the gym on the treadmill or on the road with the pram. I'm not going to do any hills, sprints, intervals yet - going to keep them up my sleeve to use when I hit a plateau and need to change things up. I think just increasing my low intensity cardio will be enough for a few weeks.

Definitely a very worthwhile morning - even got a photo with Sam!

On a totally different note - dinner with the girls last night. Thai restaurant. I had stir fried chicken, vegetables and cashews, no sauce, no rice. Waitress looked at me like I was from outer space when I ordered. And topped it off with tap water - girls looked at me like I was from outer space for the water!! No temptation at all.

Everything going really well. Displaying a surprising amount of willpower. I never realised I was this stubborn!! Ok, maybe just a little ;)

Oh yeah, one last thing........Matilda is 6 months old today! 

Can't believe that I am already under my pre-pregnancy weight and my body is well on the way to looking the best it's ever looked! 6 months! That's awesome!!! I've heard a saying about your body taking 9 months to prepare for birth and another 9 months to get back after birth. Well I can tell you now that by the time 9 months rolls around I am not only going to have my body back, im going to be a smoking hot mum!!! And my husband can't wait ;)

Rollercoaster

Rollercoaster.

Its the only word to describe my week.

Felt great shopping for clothes on Sunday. Things fit and I thought I looked good.

Food has been taunting me - the strangest things - naan bread when my husband and daughter got Indian takeaway and pizza shapes. PIZZA SHAPES!!! You heard me right. I would have given my left arm for just one.

But I didn't have any naan bread or pizza shapes. Pass.

Felt flat yesterday. Sick kids, lack of sleep, tired, it all adds up to just a flat feeling. But I am soooooo stubborn. No way will I miss a training session or eat something I shouldn't. And I won't complain either. I decided to do this and I'm determined to do it all the way.

Today I'm feeling great. I got some new gym clothes on Wednesday including a pair of short shorts which 'girls in good shape' wear. I got them with the plan of putting them in the cupboard for a couple more weeks until I think I can pull them off. But my husband pumped me up this morning, told me I looked hot, and gave me the confidence to wear them. He always tells me to 'wear it like you own it' and that's exactly what I did! I strutted around the gym like I was all that! Lol! Hilarious. But I felt great and had a killer workout.

So now I'm high on the roller coaster again!

Home workout!

Check out a bit of my workout this morning!

Maxine's challenge - challenge 1

It has arrived - the first challenge of the challenge. SICK CHILD!

Isn't it funny how life can be sailing along perfectly and a sick child just throws everything into chaos. Lack of sleep is mostly to blame. Grumpy mum who has to stay home all day with 2 tired kids and cranky dad who is exhausted from no sleep and working all day. Add to that the fact that our routine is totally thrown and for people who thrive on routine - well, it's a disaster.

Nutrition wise things are all good. A sick child has no effect on my eating. If anything, I have more time at home to prepare meals.

It's the training that suffers. I do all of my training at the gym which means I rely on the gym crèche to mind the children. Of course when they are sick, the crèche won't have them. That's fair enough. But it means I can't go to the gym! Yesterday was interesting. My husband wind trains on his bike on Monday nights so I was free to go to the gym after dinner. Having spent all day at home, by the time it got to 'after dinner', the last thing I felt like doing was going to the gym. But, because of this challenge, not going was not an option. So off I went thinking I would just do an easy run on the treadmill for 40mins or so. Cranked up the music in the car and somewhere in the 10min drive to the gym I actually got a bit pumped. So what started as a plan to do an easy treadmill run, turned onto a full blown legs session. Something I haven't ever done before as normally on weight days I do the whole body.

I didn't have a plan and had no idea of what I was doing. I just did every single leg machine/exercise that I could think of. And I remembered seeing a leg press workout on Max's muscle tv so threw that in too! Ended up doing:

• 5min treadmill, box jumps, push-ups and walking lunges for warm up
• weighted squats 
• weighted lunges
• leg press
• calf press
• incline leg press
• leg curls
• leg extensions

and to finish off, a quick cardio set of:

5 x

• 5 floors on stair master (quickly)
• 10 pushups

Was a great session and was really proud of myself for turning a blah night into something worthwhile. Thanks to Max's muscle tv, the online forum, my PT and my fellow challengers on twitter, I am now getting the confidence and knowledge to just throw something together when I need too. I'm definitely learning a lot!

Today is the same again - a child too sick to take to the gym, grumpy mum, grumpy dad. Dad's gone to work and I have called the gym to cancel my PT session :( You have no idea how much that devastates me. But.........I just happened to watch Max's muscle tv when I got home from the gym last night and Sam and Janet did a cardio workout that can be done at home! So guess what I'll be doing today? Thanks again Max's! Perfect timing! I'll report back on how it goes.

Maxine's Challenge Week 1 done

Well the first week of this challenge is over which means I've been on it for 3 weeks (since I started as soon as I registered). And I must say that I am really REALLY proud of myself and how easy I am finding it. I can honestly say:

Nutrition = 100%

Training =100%

No sneaky pieces of toast or even a single bite of anything! NOTHING! And I can't quite believe that I'm not even wanting any of that stuff. It really is quite remarkable. My food is very simple and since I'm not much into cooking and am an extremely fussy eater, I am so far not worried about eating the same thing over and over again. My daily nutrition goes something like this:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup Oats with 150ml skinny milk and handful of blueberries, coffee, Maxs protein shake about 45mins later (couldn't stomach it at same time as oats)

Morning tea: this is post workout so 15 almonds on cardio day, shake on weights day

Lunch: 120g chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice with a splash of soy, either salad or steamed veg

Afternoon tea: either protein bar, protein cookie or 10 almonds and fruit

Dinner: either beef, chicken or white fish with stir fry or steamed veg or salad

Dessert: 1/2 cup blueberries/raspberries with 1 tbsp yoghurt (sometimes blended to make ice cream - delish!)

Before bed: shake (this annoys me because it makes me go to the toilet in the middle of the night which I never have done before, but its on the plan which means I do it)

And yes, I am anal about measuring and weighing it all out. I don't do ANYTHING by halves! If I'm in this challenge, I'm in it all the way!

My training is also going so well - I can feel myself getting stronger and have increased my weights accordingly. And even my running is coming along! I even think I'm going to bite the bullet this week and start to increase my distance. I am loving my weekly PT session. It pushes me so much further and is also giving me so many ideas of things I can do in the gym - never a minute wasted!

And to top off the week I spent 4 hours clothes shopping today! I normally hate clothes shopping because I can never find what I want and I am normally so critical of how I look that nothing ever looks good on me. Well today was the total opposite! I felt like I could walk into any shop and choose anything and look good in it. I am back to a size 8 and that is so nice after spending the last 12 months either pregnant or post-pregnant and wearing 'fat' clothes! All those women who have been pregnant will know what I'm talking about!

Im also really pleased that all of this is having no effect on my breastfeeding. If anything I think I might be producing more milk than before!

So I am just killing this challenge. Slightly obsessed - absolutely!!! But that's how we roll in my house!

Maxine's challenge Day 5

Great session in the gym this morning. I got a treadmill interval set from one of the other challengers and thought I'd give it a go (thanks Ely):

4 MIN Float (8km p/h)
3 MIN Tempo (10m p/h)
3 MIN Float (8km p/h)
1 MIN Max (12.5km p/h)
1 MIN Float (8km p/h)
1 MIN Max (12.5km p/h)
2 MIN Float (8km p/h)
1 MIN Max (12.5km p/h)
3 MIN Float (8km p/h)
1 MIN Max (12.5km p/h)
4 MIN Float (8km p/h)
1 MIN Max (12.5km p/h)
5 MIN Float (8km p/h)

I followed this up with a set my PT has give me:

• 10 incline pull ups
• 10 push ups
• 10 squats
• 10 legs up crunches 

6 sets, no rests (supposed to be 10 sets but only had time for 6)

Was pretty stuffed at the end but it was great. much better than just doing a straight run. I think I could have gone harder on the treadmill so will have a chat to my husband who is a runner, and see what he thinks I should do to make it a bit more challenging.

Weights tomorrow and I'm hoping my husband will come along to spot me so that I can load my weights up a bit. Feel the burn!!!

Im feeling really good today. Took some progress shots last night and the changes to my body are definitely happening. Exciting!!!!

Went back to Mass Nutrition to get more of my Max's wpi - got the big 4kg pack which has chocolate and banana in it. I'm looking forward to trying the banana one and even mixing the 2 together to get chocolate-banana! Also got a Maxine's burn cookie. It's got the fat burners and carb blockers which I'm trying to steer clear of while breastfeeding.......but I couldn't resist just trying one! I'm going to have it for afternoon tea today so will report back on how it was!

Maxine's Challenge Day 3

I'm feeling really flat today. Body is really sore from big, HUGE PT session on Tuesday, 7km run yesterday and have just finished a weights set for today. So a little bit of DOMS going on but not too bad - I've definitely had worse! probably contributing to the fact that I feel sluggish is that I haven't had a coffee yet today. Tragic, I know! We have run out of coffee beans here at home which means that my husband can't make me my morning cuppa :( And I totally forgot to get one when I was out earlier. Now my baby is asleep in bed and I can't go and get one :( Yes, I'm addicted to coffee!

Weights set at the gym today was good. On Tuesday I did some strength work with my PT and that gave me the confidence to increase some of my weights today - seated row, incline bench press, squats. Definitely made it harder but I could do it! Tried to increase lat pulldowns but I'm not there yet - need to get some more muscles in these chicken arms and back!

Cardio day tomorrow at the gym - going to aim for 5km run, 10 mins on stairmaster (that thing kills me) and 2km row. MUST also do a good core workout - been a bit slack on this lately.

I'm still determined to stick to the 12 weeks. I am already seeing changes in my body and am starting to imagine just how good I could look in 12 weeks. Did my measurements this morning and more off my waist and hips which I'm really happy about. Weight is also coming down. Hit 48.7kg now and I really don't want to go too much lighter than that. It's the lightest I've ever been, even lighter than when I ran my marathon! So want to really keep an eye on that - don't want to be skinny! Bit disappointed I didn't lose any off my thighs this week as that is typically my problem area but I'm trusting the process and definitely won't start panicking after just 2 weeks! Just more work to do.

             17/7      24/7       1/8        Results
Waist     72.5      69           65         -7.5
Hips       84         82           80         -4
Bust       87         82.5        82.5      -4.5
Thigh     49          46.         46         -3
Bicep     25          24.5        24.5      -0.5
Calf       31.5       31.5        31         -0.5
Weight   51.1       49.9        48.7      -2.4

See you in the gym :)

Maxine's challenge officially starts

Today is the official first day of the challenge! I actually registered 2 weeks ago and have been following the program to the letter since then so today hasn't been such a big deal for me. But it is the first day for blogging so that's exciting!

The last 2 weeks have been pretty good. I've had a chance to get my nutrition sorted which was always the biggest part for me. Exclusively breastfeeding my 5 month old has made me a bit cautious about the nutrition side of things. But I am really happy with how the nutrition plan is working. 2 weeks in and no problems with my milk, have plenty to eat, don't feel hungry too often and the food is quite tasty. so all good there. Am also getting used to modifying the meals for the rest of the family (having a husband who does ironman triathlons means that there's nowhere near enough carbs in the plan for his requirements!) so that I get what I need and they are happy too.

Training has been good too - Monday, Wednesday, Friday are weights days at the gym. Tuesday is with my PT Michael. Thursday running with the girls. Saturday and Sunday running with on my own or with my lovely husband and children! Perfect!

I'm going to kill this challenge. And I am going to look like Michelle Bridges at the end of it.......only better!