Monday, January 12th, 2015
Here’s my newest health and fitness routine that I’m now a whole week (massive, I know) into. Disclaimer: There’s no juicing, no Special K cereal, no skipping meals, I’m eating carbs and hardly doing any running. My latest health & fitness kick is just a step up from what I’ve been doing for the past year but will some added intensity and more monitoring!
I’ve been going to the gym since I was 15 – I was a size 12, I’ve never been bigger than that so this isn’t a dramatic weight loss story but I wasn’t very happy with it. I was doing school exercise and playing hockey but I never really enjoyed it. Let’s face it, I’m not a team (sports) player! I went to sixth form and there was no compulsory sports so I joined the gym. I was a size 8-10 by now and happier in my appearance. The real gym-going started when I met Luke as he’s from a family of serious abs. He educated me in health and fitness and now I love it even more – I can deadlift 50kg and squat around 45kg now. I’m now a steady size 8 but I fluctuate if I eat too many McDonalds and too much sugar. I also hold all of my weight in the places that should look awesome in a bikini – abs I have never had. My skin also really suffers if I don’t eat well – this has been one of the main reasons for my new year healthy eating, I was getting absolutely sick of hating my own skin.
We’re doing the LDN Muscle Cutting Guide, working out 4 times a week with a few cardio sessions with more as the weeks increase if we really want to get super lean. This is an 18 week guide and I feel like already it’s manageable as I can eat almost whatever I want in moderation as we’ve both worked out our macronutrients (the amount of protein, carbs and fats your body needs). For example, today, when I’m writing this I’ve had sausage, egg and bacon for breakfast because it’s the weekend and going for a Nando’s this evening. It’s all going to be under my carbs and fat and hitting my protein target for the day. Day to day in the week I’m eating cleaner than this – mostly for my skin. For example, my breakfast is always eggs, usually poached with either/or rye bread, toast, avocado, spinach and bacon. Lunch and dinner wise it’s always protein packed with a load of veg. We’ve always eaten like this to be fair, but now I’m just resisting those office cupcakes more often. If you want some serious clean eating inspiration head to Instagram and follow @clean_eating_alice, she’s incredible!
This post is all about my gym and healthy eating essentials – first up is the awesome Log It or Lose It books where I write up all my workouts before I get to the gym and then record my reps and weights so I can check back next time and better it! The guy that runs Log it Or Lose It is awesome, he made me this pink one specially as I sent him a tweet asking for one. He definitely deserves so much more recognition that he’s getting at the moment. If you’re a gym goer – you need one of these books to log your workouts or your nutrition. Go follow them on Twitter because every Friday he picks a random follower to receive a brand new diary!
In terms of logging my nutrition and food I use My Fitness Pal, you can adjust all of your macros and it’s so easy to scan food in to see what’s in it. Super convenient! I have a shake on most days to help up my protein intake and of course I had to have a pink shaker, this one’s from My Protein. In terms of gym wear, I usually favour Nike but I’m really looking forward to seeing Missguided, Topshop and Boohoo’s new fitness ranges. I’ll definitely do a post on these when they come out and find the best picks! I’ve been really like these South Beach ‘Jane’ shorts* for a while too. South Beach mainly focus on swimwear but their fitness range is growing, I like their Letter Print Mesh Sports Bra too.
Anyway, I hope this post has been useful, I’d definitely recommend the LDN Muscle guides. They have a ‘Bikini Guide’ too which is specifically for the ladies but I’m doing the Cutting Guide and I expect the results will be pretty similar. If you have any questions about it, find them on Twitter they’re so speedy at replying!
Very helpful post!