My health and fitness has come a long way in the space of a year. Last January I was taking part in veganuary, and as much as I would have liked to attempt it again this year I like cadbury too much and my stomach doesn't agree with a diet that was 50% beans for me. Throughout 2018 I was kind of testing the waters to see what diet lifestyle worked best for me, I tried intermittent fasting, macro counting on MyFitnessPal and carb cycling. In the end I think I've implemented things from each one which I am taking on board this year.
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My winter body has been cut short this year because next month, I am moving to Australia!! So I am officially 4 weeks out from living in a swimsuit 24/7 and in a hurry to burn off all those quality streets and polvorones from the Christmas period. After a bit of trial and error, I've more or less found what works for me so here are a couple of things I'll be trying to stick to this month (and hopefully year).
1. Intermittent Fasting in the morning.
As much as I love gluttonous breakfasts when I'm travelling or eating out, I've never really been a fan of eggs in the morning or porridge and such. And so, breaking my fast at midday isn't that much of a challenge as long as I have a coffee in the morning to keep me going. In a nutshell, IF is fasting for a certain period of the day and then eating during a certain window (12pm-8pm) - if you want a bit more info on the benefits of intermittent fasting and my experience with it last year i've linked the post.
2. Keeping my carbs low at dinner.
We all know that carbs aren't the enemy, and if you want to eat a plate of home-cooked pasta for dinner there is nothing wrong with that if it's within your 'recommended' daily calorie intake. I just don't like the feeling of going to bed bloated/with a full stomach so prefer to eat my carby meals at lunch time and then have proteins and healthy fats in the evening (and by 'healthy' fats I mean mayo and cheese lol).
3. The occasional Saturday cheat meal.
I've come to the conclusion that if I've gone out on the Friday evening, I am going to slip up with my eating on the Saturday. Even when I have a night in my Saturday nights consist of movie nights at my friends house who always has a fully stocked snack pantry. As you can imagine, it's pretty hard to sit through 2 movies with just a bottle of water and grapes when there is Crunchie bars, Ben & Jerry's and popcorn available.
4. Eating chocolate everyday.
Because I'd rather have two after eights every night than deprive myself of chocolate and then attack a 500g bar of cadbury at the weekend.
5. Not going ape-sh*t with the cardio.
Like most people, I have a love hate relationship with cardio. I don't think I've ever done more than 20 minutes on the cross trainer and won't stay longer than half an hour on the treadmill. My usual plan for this month is starting off with 15 mins CT (150 kal) then weight training on a particular area and finishing off with 10 min sprints on the treadmill (another 150 kal). My holy grail for getting me through this has been using C4's Pre Workout* (I got gifted two tubs and I've continued to use it as it works great for me).
If you're not familiar with pre workout, it is designed to give your body that extra pump of energy, focus and motivation before you hit the gym. I had mine in the flavours pink lemonade and orange burst and I think next time I'd like to try the cherry limeade. I started off using one scoop but after a while found the effects weren't as strong so I've started doubling up. I've tried several other pre workout brands before and have found that this one tastes the nicest (not like fake flavours), is the most economical and gives me the best results in the gym.
6. Sticking to a 45/35/20 macro ratio.
Obviously this is just a guideline and I don't think i'll ever be one of those people who weigh out their food and stuff, but sticking to a higher amount of protein, medium carb and low fat (50g) seems to work for me in that it keeps me satisfied and allows me to enjoy the foods I like (don't think I could eat my protein and veg at dinner without a teaspoon of mayo too). There are lots of tools online that can help calculate your macros depending on your current weight and what your goals are.
MY GOALS FOR THE YEAR.
This year I want to focus more on building muscle and getting stronger, and less on losing 'weight' on the scale. I don't think I'm ever going to be 100% happy with my body (is anyone?), I wish my thighs were slimmer, my boobs were bigger and that my bingo wings were non existent. That being said, I am proud of the progress I have made last year and I just want to keep pushing myself to get a more defined body and shiz, but I won't be saying no to any dinner parties, nights out or cake, after all those extra lbs on your body are the result of you living life. So my list of goals are:
- get proper abs
- get toned arms
- build my shoulders a bit (so my bags stay put when I try to carry them here)
- eat less dairy
- stay within 5lbs (either way) of what I weigh now.
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What are your fitness goals for 2019?
* This post contains gifted items but all words and opinions are my own*
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