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 :)