Launch the HULK!

OH~ how corny was that title..=S

But yes, I've officially begun BULK phase....(oh gosh)

If you've read my previous posts, I briefly explained how I was trying to get up to my maintenance calories

Maintenance calories - CHECKED!                  "CHEERING"

Now moving on, bulk phase will consist of - 

• Focus will be shifted from cardio to weight sessions. I will be doing 5 weight sessions with 2 cardio workouts. This will be a massive challenge as I am a cardio freak! Thinking about only doing 2 sessions a week is already burning me.
• Build more lean mass (47kgs is still a good amount that I have already but we'll see how much more I can build)
• Clean eating with 1 cheat meal/week
• Macro-nutrients will be: 

P - 170g

C - 150g

F - 50g

SF - 21g (atm the diet I've planned only consists of 10g, but lower the better for this)

Calories - 1700-1900

After speaking with a couple of people and recommendations from the results of my DEXA dietary requirements, I came to a decision that it'd be better for me to continue bulking for the next 4-6 weeks. The reasons behind this is because: 

1. More lean mass = more energy burn
2. So that my body is able to stabilise a bit longer on a higher calorie intake. If I was to reduce my calories already (only been about 4 weeks since I reached 1200cals and only 1 week since I reached 1600cals). I don't think it'll be much of a shock factor to my body...My measurements haven't gone up since increasing my cals which is a good sign, but I guess I'll have to experiment with this new phase. 

All this food is quite overwhelming, no joke! I am eating 24/7(I'm surprised no-one judges me at work LOL)

But i'm going to push through, KICK SOME BUTT and get this block over and done with!!! If this strategy fails and I gain a hideous amount of weight *shrieks* I'm going to go into hiding forever!! I kid I kid....All about trial and error and I guess if it does fail it's a 4 week loss out of whole life span! RIGHT?!?! =S

Anyway, I'm leaving here with a snapshot of a meal I had on saturday, post hill Sprint session (SESSION OF DEATH)

Grilled Snapper and Spinach salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar

Healthy in just 10minutes

I don't understand when people say they have no time to cook up something healthy? To me it just sounds like - I'm lazy so I'm going to go for a maccas run!!

This meal honestly took me 10 minutes to whip up!

Grilled chilli garlic prawns with sautéed wombok and a side of cucumber and daikon 

Ingredients:

150g of Banana Prawns (or any type of fresh prawns uncooked)
Raw wombok, also known as chinese cabbage (as much as you desire)
Half of a small onion
2 x cloves of garlic
Chilli Flakes
1 Tsp of oyster sauce
Cucumber and Daikon
Note: You can use any vegetable you like! Go crazy!!

Enjoy it with a serving of brown rice, sweet potato, any sort of wholesome organic starch and you're good to go!

Macro-nutrients

190 Calories
Carbs: 9.8g (without the starch serving)
Protein: 28.7g
Fat: 1.7g
Sat Fat: 0.4g

Making the right decisions and finding the balance

I began this week like any other week, positive attitude and the perfect plan of attack. I had my meals prep'd, my training times set and a pre planned cheat meal for Saturday night dinner.

It all seemed to easy.....then it all began....Friday afternoon came along. At work we had a farewell afternoon tea for one of our colleagues, there was chips, dips, crackers, cheese, cabanossi and tomatoes. ALL OF MY FAVS!! So I decided to ditch my pre-planned tuna salad afternoon snack and dive face forward into the crackers and dips. OK, so it wasn't the worst snack I could've eaten, but it's the fact that I didn't have enough control to say no and also knowing that I fell off track. This is just Fail part 1.

Then Saturday came around (cheat meal night) had a nice 7am start but I didn't end up eating breakfast until 12pm. Part of the reason was because I was crazy busy cleaning all day, so hunger wasn't really a priority. Although, to be honest, the main reason was because I was feeling guilty from the previous indulgence of crackers and cheese. =[ It's not like I went over my intake for the day but knowing I made the wrong decision just took the better of me.
I didn't end up eating again till dinner, which was about 7pm. So in the space of 12hrs I had only eaten one meal. Gosh, I'm definitely dreading telling my coach this!!!! =S
After coming home from dinner I felt like I was having heart burn (never have had heart burn before, but all the symptoms were screaming HEART BURN. Painful feeling). I was tossing and turning in bed because of the pain and managed to squeeze in a couple of hours.


Finally Sunday! Woke up with the stomach pains so I couldn't eat breakfast. Instead I ended up playing tennis with a bunch of friends. During this time which was about 2pm my stomach pains subsided and I had brewed up a humongous appetite (I think I could've eaten a horse LOL). Fail part 1000000000000 - eating food on a completely empty stomach = OVEREAT/EAT WITH YOUR EYES/EAT MINDLESSLY). Fortunately, we all decided on a healthy lunch option, sushi (thank goodness) originally was going to be workers club buffet. Then it all went downhill again - After lunch we all decided to head back to our friends house to bake. I knew this would be a challenge for me as I am a sucker for desserts and all things baked, but I took the risk and followed. As much as I told myself to be strong I ended up grazing on some cookies and toasted creme brulee.

As you can see I fell off track hardcore this week and it's so darn easy to. I'm sitting here asking myself, was it really that hard to turn away? Did you really need that or was it just mindless eating out of habit?

 I knew that I would be faced with challenges by hanging out with my friends (who are big foodies). I actually almost said no to meeting up with them because of the fact that I knew fail rate probability would be high. But, I didn't want to or am going to avoid situations like these just because I know I'm going to give in to my weaknesses. I need to learn to find the perfect balance of this lifestyle change whilst engaging with my normal social activities. Without finding the balance and making the right food choices I'm basically throwing my hard training and clean eating throughout the week completely down the drain. Plus, I'll never get to where I want to be. This is something I def DEF DEFINITELY need to work on.

So the ugly has been done and there's no point in dwelling. It's time for a new clean and structured week, RIGHT?!?!

Btw, this isn't me LOL

All prep'd, planned and ready to smash this new week, hopefully this time next week I'll be writing about how well I did!!

Calories vs. Macronutrients

Do you count calories?

Throughout the many years of 'dieting' I developed an obsessive addiction where I would calculate and add up anything that entered my mouth (CalorieKing and I established a strong cyber friendship and became inseparable LOL). It didn't matter what source of food the calorie would come from, a calorie was a calorie. I could've eaten what I thought was healthy such as; muesli bars, types of cereals, packaged 'healthy' frozen meals, meal replacements, or the unhealthy chocolate bar, slice of cake, lollies, chips and etc.. So long as my calorie intake didn't exceed what I thought was the correct consumption amount, I predicted there to be a weight loss.

Did I have it wrong!

It is significant to understand how many calories your body requires to encourage a healthy weight loss (or even just to maintain a healthy lifestyle). However, if you don't distinguish the crucial relationship between macro-nutrients and calories your weight loss progress will not be 100% successful.

The main functions of macro-nutrients are to promote growth and development, regulate body functions and provide energy which are counted as calories. There are three broad classes of macro-nutrients which are: Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats (click the links to find a full description of each macro). Each of these macro's provide calories, however, the amount provided by each varies.
1gram of Carbohydrates = 4 calories
1gram of Protein = 4 calories
1g of Fat = 9 calories.

Now to explain it a little clearer how calories can be chosen, I've compared it with 2 different types of food:

 
530 calories of milk Chocolate (100g)                

Fats: 29.5g
Saturated Fats: 18g
Carbohydrate: 57g                   Benefits: Diabetes, cardiovascular
Sugar: 55.5                               disease, lethargy and fatigue,
Protein: 8g                                musculoskeletal disorder and other          
                                                  detrimental health risks.
                                                  (General to all unhealthy foods)                                        

530 calories of chicken breast (320g)                                                      

Fats: 11.4g                             Benefits: Vitamin B for energy, B6 for
Saturated Fats: 3.2g              Cardiovascular health, Niacin
Carbohydrate: 9.9g               which reduces the risk for cancer,
Sugar: 4.4g                            Protein and amino acids: the structure of      
Protein: 15.2g                        the human body - helps replenish, repair        
                                               and re-generate.

Our bodies cannot distinguish whether or not we are fuelling it with a chocolate bar or a piece of lean chicken. It can only receive it as nutrients broken down into fats, carbs, protein and other vitamins and minerals. As you can see above, although we can consume the same amount of calories, the type of food that is eaten to fuel the body will effect how the body will respond. The lean piece of chicken will help refuel our body and nourish any damaged tissue, skin, hair, tendon, ligaments and organs, allowing us to feel energised. On the other hand, the chocolate would only provide us with instant taste satisfaction, but, would not be able to administer the same high quality nutritional values and effects to sustain the human body as the chicken would. What is more, it would actually more than likely store as fat if not burned through vigorous exercise and set our bodies into apathy.

Can you see why it is necessary to realise fuel for the body is more than just counting simple calories?

Going back to the story of my calorie counting days....I can now apprehend and find the reasoning to why I constantly felt tired, stressed, lethargy, muscle atrophy, loss of hair, dry skin, depressed and tired..oh wait I already said that!

Don't get suckered into mindless calorie counting!! IT DOESN'T WORK AND YOU HAVE PROOF THROUGH ME. Assess the macro-nutrients that your body requires to function at its maximum capacity. If you are able to compose a balance, it'll only be a matter of time and hard training before weight loss occurs.




    
                                             
                                             

Reboot yourself

 If you find that you're not managing to get your 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of veggies, instead of jamming vitamin supplements into your body try juice made by "Reboot Your Life"

Unlike 99% of juices sold in the market this product is 100% natural ingredients. No concentrates, preservatives or colourings.
Just real, whole fruit and veggies.


Out of the 3 Very Berry Good was my favourite!! (as you can see I've sipped more of it than the others). Lean Mean and Green definitely disagreed with my taste buds.

Slight adjustments

After a couple of days on this new intense training schedule I feel like my body is ready for more food...oh WAIT!......it's screaming for more fuel!!! I thought my body wouldn't be able to handle 1400-1600cals (portion wise) yet but I definitely underestimated this idea (chucks paper out the window). 

Also, I've decided not to take the L-Carnitine and have removed the protein shakes. Couple of reasons why I removed the shake is because  -

1.  I was only using it temporarily because it was easier for me to drink a shake then down a piece of chicken every 3hrs (I'm getting better at this!! WOOT!!). 

2. It also made me feel bloated at times 

3. By having real food I'll get my digestive system working i.e. get that metabolism soaring. 

The body needs to work harder to digest food rather than a liquid.

So now my diet looks something like this:

1400-1600 cals

Macros:

P - 160g

C - 90-100g (increased the carbs because of the amount of cardio I am doing)

F - 35-40g

Post Workout - 6am

Apple

or

Natural yoghurt

Breakfast - 745am

Egg omelette (1 white + 1 yolk) + Chicken breast 50g with vegetables and 3/4cup brown rice

Snack - 1045am

Tuna and avocado salad

Lunch - 145pm

Chicken breast and veggies with 1/2cup brown rice

Snack - 445pm

15 raw almonds

Dinner - 745pm

Chicken breast and veggies

Training wise, I'm STRUGGLING to do the HIIT in the mornings so I've simply swapped them around. So I do weights in the mornings and do HIIT at night. SO MUCH BETTER!!! gaahhh do I hate mornings =[ Ah~ just got to get into routine and I'll be fine >.<

Measure me up

dum Dum DUMM!! Here come the measurements.... So awkward posting it out to the world but hopefully this will aid to keeping me FOCUSED!!

I feel as the progress has been quite slow because most of this was probably post holiday weight (pulling my hair and gasping) and also due to the main factor of trying to figure out the perfect nutritional and training program for my body. So we've been trialling several methods and haven't quite hit the beauty spot. But I can definitely say we are getting there.

I can't wait to see how much ill be able to lose in the next couple of months!
I'll be going back for a DEXA scan late April/early May - with this I'll be able to see how much fat I actually lost and lean muscle mass I gained.

Lets smash it!

Testing it out...

I find it so strange that I find it extremely challenging to hit my calorie/macronutrient targets as many people who 'diet' struggle to eat within their maintenance calorie limits and find themselves overeating which leads to them being overweight.

For the last 3 years I have been consuming between 400-800 calories a day and one of the reasons for me being overweight is because and I am sure you are familiar with this concept, "starvation mode" YUP! my body is STORING everything and I mean EVERYTHING!!!!!!! arggghhhhh......(punch me now).

With a terrible combination of overexercising and under eating how could my body possibly want release anything! (geez how did I not know this? DUH!!)

I have been recommended to intake 1600 cals a day! HOLY GEEBNUTS!!! is this a TRUCKLOAD of food or what!!!! I found it really hard to transition from 800 cals to 1600 both mentally (this is still a battle for me) and physically to digest the large amounts of food.

After consulting with my PT we decided to take it slowly and increase it every couple of weeks.

We've been increasing it slowly since the beginning of Jan and I am currently sitting on about 1200 a day. Hopefully within a couple of weeks or so I'll be at 1600 to maximisie the extra fuel to build some lean mass and burn the FATTT!! AHOO!

This is an example of my eating and training schedule -
I weigh all my food (I'm freak like that, Judging?) to suit all my macro nutrients.

Diet - About 1200Cals
Macro's
P - 180g
C - 80g
F - 20g

Breakfast - 745am

4 egg white omelette +50g of chicken breast with spinach and broccoli with either 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice or 1 cup of cooked oats
2 x Fish Oil

Snack - 1045am

Whey Protein pancake with natural yoghurt

or

Small piece of fruit with nuts

Lunch - 145pm

Sweet potato spinach salad with protein(tuna, chicken, prawns etc)
1 x Fish Oil

Snack - 5pm

Whey Protein Shake with small handful of raw almonds
1 x L-Carnitine (Pre Workout)

Dinner - 730-8pm

Protein (chicken, red meat, shellfish etc) and Veggies

Note: At the moment I am incorporating protein powders because it is quick and easy and also because I struggle to eat all the portions. Once I get that all sorted I'll be off the shakes . If you are not a supplement kind of person you could easily substitute it with whole food protein based snacks.

I also only it organic natural foods and I most definitely have 1 cheat meal or 4 small snack cheats throughout the week

Training

Monday
445am - Cardio

530pm - Chest and Back

Tuesday

530pm - Legs (Back Physio)

Wednesday 
445am - Cardio

530pm - Shoulders and arms

Thursday 

530pm - Legs and back (Back Physio)

Friday

530pm - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

Saturday

8am - Legs

Afternoon - Cardio

Sunday

I try and use this as a rest day but most of the time I get too restless so I workout, but it's only light.

It's been a week since I added in the morning workouts and I can tell yah now it takes alot of fudgin WILL power to get up!!! I think I snooze at least 5 times! But I'm ready to kick butt right, left, centre, all directions you can think of baby!!

I'll see how I go with this.....eeekkkk

Bored?---> Try out HIIT

Sick of running on the treadmill/elliptical for hours and hours or you simply need a quickie before you meet up with bunch of friends and you have no time to hit the gym??? TRY THIS OUT! Something I just mashed up. It'll seriously get your HEART RATE screaming for its dear life....


You can use the 'Tabata' method (20sec intense exercise followed by a 10sec rest) but I find that 20sec is just too short. So I set my interval timer on for 30 sec exercise 10 sec rest and then 1 minute rest between each set.
So this is what it looks like.


Do a quick 5-10 minute warm up: jog, jumping jack etc


30sec - Jump Rope (boxing style)
10sec rest
30 sec - Burpees
10sec rest
30 sec - Jump Rope
10 sec rest
30sec - Burpees
10sec rest
30sec - Jump Rope
10sec 
30sec - Burpee
1 minute rest.


So basically you're alternating between Jump Rope and whatever exercise you plan to perform(3 sets)  


Continuing on...


3 x 30sec - Chair Dips (alternating with the Jump Rope)
3 x 30sec - Jump Knee Tucks (alternating with the Jump Rope)
3 x 30sec - Elevated/Decline Push-ups (alternating with the Jump Rope)
3 x 30sec - Jumping Split Squats (alternating with the jump rope)
3 x 30sec - Dumbbell Lawnmowers  ("   ")
3 x 30sec - Squat kicks ("   ")
3 x 30sec - Dumbbell 2 arm Tricep Kickbacks ("   ")
3 x 30sec - Max Speed Turning Kicks ("   ")
3 x 30sec - Dumbbell French press ("   ")
3 x 30sec - Dumbell walking lunges ("   ")
3 x 30sec - Jumping Knee Tucks ("  ")
3 x 30sec - Sprint for your LIFE!!


These are some examples of what you could incorporate into your HIIT workout! You will probably need to adjust the workout times and rest times according to your fitness level. Just don't forget to push yourself to the point where you are pulling those horrid facial expressions and for some the big GRUNTS....you need to feel the burn buRN BURN baby!!




Benefits of HIIT

• Saves time
• Increase in Cardiovascular function
• Increase in Strength Power and Speed
• Significant reductions in body fat and insulin resistance
• Increase VO2 Max (Maximum amount of oxygen you can uptake during exercise)
• Prevents injuries
• Activation of the fast twitch muscle, resulting in more muscle mass. More muscle mass the higher your RMR

On another note I've mentioned all the benefits of HIIT training, however, endurance exercises are also beneficial for fitness and health. (it just takes longer). 

I sure do love my looooooonnnnggg runs. Yes, it takes longer but this sort of exercise helps me recover from all the tough weight and HIIT sessions whilst still burning that stubborn FAT.

I tend to rotate between HIIT 2 times a week, Long distance 2-3times a week and 5-6 weight sessions (detailed schedule to come). 

Super Foods

For all you CLEAN eaters out there!! This is something I can smash down post workout, snack or a even meal.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Protein Pancake with Natural Yoghurt

Note: If having it as a snack I'd remove the oats

This protein packed meal is 347 Calories (with the oats) and the macro's are

Fat: 2g

Sat Fat: 0.5g

Protein : 37g

Carbs: 40.5g

Ingredients

Protein Powder : Dymatize HydroWhey - 1 Scoop

Monster Muesli Brans and Oats Porridge : 1/2 cup (40g)

2 x egg whites

Jalna Fat Free Natural Yoghurt - 100g

Blueberries : 50g

1/2 Tsp of Honey and Cinnamon

But you could definitely adjust the settings to suit your dietary requirements

Don't Judge me but...I had this 3 times in one day because I loved it (I'm a sucker for dessert type foods) 

Tip : Benefits of ground cinnamon

Studies suggest - 

1. It can regulate blood sugar levels and insulin resistance

2. Reduce cancer cells

3. Reduce Pain from Arthritis
4. Boosts Cognitive function and memory
5. Great source of Manganese, fibre, iron and calcium
6. Digestive ailments such as indigestion, gas and bloating and diarrhea.

Daily Staple : Grilled Prawns and Spinach salad with sweet potato and kidney beans.

The caption says it all - Definitely one of my TOP Lean clean eats!

Go into Defeat, not to be defeated..

Hello all,


Have you been to my ABOUT page to get the low down of who I am?!


So who's ready to see me kick some butt this year??...(Oh~ I am)


To get things started I got myself checked out at www.measureup.com.au/ for a full body scan.


Here are the results...

I am currently sitting on 25% body fat I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get down to 15%.....-10% easy....YEAH RIGHT!! =S...


I've set myself a mini goal to reduce it to 20% which is a loss of 4kgs - depending on how much muscle mass I am able to gain. 


Gosh it sounds so easy.....only if it was....


So according to Jarrod, I need to be consuming at least 1600 calories a day, that's just to survive without any exercise. However, because I've been eating so little my PT and I are taking things slowly and experimenting with my body. Only because we don't know how my body will react to all the food. So I've been eating 1200cals for the last month or so and there hasn't been a gain (THANK GOOOSSSH) but a minimal loss.


We still need to figure out my calorie intake so that my body doesn't continue to store. I am on the same diet as 2 other girls and they are losing a lot more than I am and I am training triple than what they do.....HUH?! maybe my body is destined to be MAMMOTH like?! hahaha doubt it.....


It's definitely a tough one physically and mentally but I'm going to charge on and fight this B*tCH!!!!


I'll continue to blog about my exercise routines, my diet, progress photos, general thoughts.....so WATCH this space!!


Booyah!