Yeah I’ve gotta feelin’ I’m getting there! This morning was a struggle but managed to pick up after lunch. Definitely no shakes and was able to get through it much better. I am not sure if it was food or just that my body is adjusting to the new sugar levels. I also had more things to focus on today so that I guess distracted me for a moment.

Today’s food:

• Homemade baked beans with scrambled eggs and wholemeal toast
• Berries and Greek yoghurt with walnuts and pepitas
• 10 almonds
• Carrot and celery sticks
• 1 Kiwifruit
• 2 Corn cruskits
• Hardboiled egg white on wholemeal toast with laughing cow cheese wedge
• Curried egg sandwich
• Lasagna with handful of spinach and rocket
• Rice thins with vegemite

I did get about 1500 calories in. I was quite hungry after my workout and figured it would be ok to top up a little tonight to quell the hunger. I don’t think I am able to live that well on 1200 calories while doing this lean and strong program. I remember after about 6 weeks in being very hungry, tired and not 100% even though I said I was. According to MyFitnessPal, I am exceeding my daily protein allowance and definitely not having enough carbs. Don’t know. Obviously not all the data entered in there is terribly accurate. Too much confusion and too much information for me to process so I am doing what feels right. I don’t think I’ve had too much carbs at all. I definitely think today’s breakfast made a difference. I was feeling off in the morning but really did pick back up after lunch. Strange but good. I hope tomorrow is even better. I’ve decided after today to try to aim for between 1400-1500 calories. I am certain I can still lose whatever weight I put on in the previous weeks and try to maintain that. I think more protein in the morning is key at the moment so I will do the scrambled eggs again although I don’t have baked beans I think I’ll just add a tomato into the mix.

S0 there we go. Progress is being made in the sugar department. I hope by week’s end I will be tip-top!

Ah, day 2 has been hard. I had been so irritable. LOL. I am still feeling fuzzy. Last night I crashed out at 9.30pm. Tonight, I’m still here typing away so slightly better but pretty sure when the head hits the pillow, I will knock out. Everything is still a bit of a blur but once I get food in I get that burst and get by until the next drop. I am going to the doctors next week so I will ask him if this is ok. If I’m better next week, I might not bother asking. I’m hoping that it will fine and I will be back on the track with how I feel.

I went over 1300 calories today because of my low blood sugar feeling – giddy, fuzzy, etc. I had to get more food in to get my blood sugar levels right. I’m still feeling a bit low but still managed to get through my workouts without any issues. Was definitely shaky so not sure what to do there. More research required I think. Perhaps not the best idea to be going off sugar, limiting calories while doing weights. Any thoughts people out there?

So today I ate:

• 1 hardboiled egg with avocado and Burgen wholemeal and seed toast
• Greek yoghurt with blueberries, walnuts and pepitas
• Minestrone soup with a slice of Burgen wholemeal and see toast
• 5 almonds
• 10 Sakatas
• 1 hardboiled egg, half wedge laughing cow cheese, 2 corn Cruskits
• 2 Cruskets
• 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk
• 1 large black coffee
• chargrilled steak with corn and avocado salsa

That added up to being around 1330 calories. Not too bad I have to say. The weights session was hard today because it was arms, I did too many planks yesterday at yoga and also I had to move around to get my equipment or move to other areas. It was fun though and surprised myself by being able to chest press with the barbell. It was great.

Anyway, this article on NY Times was an interesting insight. It talks about the research on sugar and how it affects us. There is still much debate on how harmful sugar / fructose is. I don’t know what to think about it but I believe that it is a great idea to limit the amount of refined, processed crap in our body.

Today was the beginning of round 3 of the 12WBT. Exciting times and today also marked my beginning of going (refined) sugar free. Now one of my friends asked what prompted me to do this. Well there were many factors. First one being my increased intake of chocolate bars, lollies, ice cream and crap in general. I used to have one as an odd treat now and then on the program. I would calculate that into my calories and be none the wiser. However, now with the increased calorie intake, I would have it as a snack. Yeah, well done. What a great snack. So that kind of went overboard when I would have a few during my 3pm snack along with my selected healthy snack. That just threw my calories out of whack and I’d get home and be gorging on anything sweet. This was during the off-season I might add.

The next was during my discovery of paleo desserts, I stumbled upon a blog by Sarah Wilson. She has some great views on diet as she has an autoimmune disorder. This means that she has to stay away from certain foods due to this issue. This led her to quitting sugar after reading up on the book by David Gillespe, Sweet Poison (apparently this book has been out for ages and there is a follow up book that’s the Quit Sugar plan – I flicked through it, thought about buying it but his blog and forum is pretty detailed). After reading the articles and various links, I learnt that sugar or more specifically fructose, not fat, is what is causing a lot of the issues associated with obesity in the world. That’s the gist of it. I think figured if I could cut down this intake, then that may help me to get rid of some of my hunger cravings, crazy ass mood swings and lulls and improve my overall happiness.

I have survived day 1. I am actually feeling quite fuzzy and sleepy at the moment. I actually felt really good after my gym session but started to crash at about 8.30. Today I managed to stay within the 1300 calories. I’m doing the lean and strong program so have upped my calories straight up from the 1200 as I only have a couple of kilos to lose.

Today I ate:

• Hardboiled egg on avocado toast (burgen wholemeal and seed)
• 1 cup of strawberries
• 1 large cup of expresso with 2 tablespoons-ish of oat milk
• 5 raw almonds
• 12 wholemeal Sakatas (throwing these out because they were incredibly salty)
• Curried egg sandwich using full-fat Greek yoghurt instead of mayonaise
• 1/2 punnet of blueberries with 2 tablespoons of full-fat Greek yoghurt
• 1 carrot and 1 large celery stalk
• 2 corn cruskits, 1/2 laughing cow wedge cheese and 1 hardboiled egg white
• Minestrone soup with lentils

Not bad I have to say. I’m not sure what others think but I am please I managed to limit my intake of fruit. I’ve chosen primarily berries and kiwifruit as they are said to be containing the least amount of sugar. I don’t think I would be able to completely omit fruit from my diet. I think I would die but this is a great start and definitely worth it. Also to get the sugar hit without the sugar, I have been drinking licorice tea. A lifesaver. I have no real strategy other than willpower and to get these last kilos I put on, to go off.

So there you go. Why I’m going sugar-free in a nutshell. I hope to share more links and articles as I go but bare with the crazy, half-hashed blogs as I’m still in a daze!

All the pre-season tasks have opened up for Round 3 and I’ve pretty much done all of the tasks but the last.

I guess I should give a run down of my 1 month goals for Round 3.

• Do 18 press ups on toes
• 100 squats challenge
• Body fat at 17.5%
• Maintain weight at 50kg
• Update and blog more regularly
• Log all food eaten and blog about it to keep me accountable
• Eliminate sugar (refined sugar, fructose – not in fruits) from diet.

I have highlighted a number of red flag days. I am away from home a couple of times in during the round and also have a move scheduled so that will be a great challenge to get workouts done without a gym. I do have my back-up workouts from Bodyrock.tv which are awesome.

So that is pretty much it for that. I will try to blog regularly about my sugar progress. I have to admit that this week I have gone overboard with chocolate and biscuits and as I type this, I feel really crap. I can safely say that sugar is bad!

Also just a note that I am working on a new layout because I’m sick of this and want something a little flashy to show off. I am off now to get some sleep for an early morning tomorrow.

It has been a fair while since I have updated and that has to do with the fact that I have gotten so caught up with life and work and everything else in between. Attended the 12WBT finale workout and party which was awesome and so amazing to meet all my virtual supporters. Also had a friend visit from out of town and just trying to relax after a ferocious 12 weeks of lean and strong.

I have learnt a lot over the 4 weeks and have to say that I am disappointed how I tackled it. On the other hand, I felt that  if I didn’t “go off the rails” I wouldn’t be where I am now and come to realise I need to take my finger out of my ears and listen. I have consumed so much crap that I am almost ready to kick myself and knock myself silly. Tonight has been no different from the other nights with the desserts and snacks I had after dinner. Argh. I whinge about it quite a fair bit on Twitter and sound like a broken record every time I tweet that I had a chocolate bar or 4 with a pack of chips, etc, etc. I find it amazing that I know I am doing it, feel guilty and then angry about it. My exercise routine hasn’t slowed down at all and in fact working harder than I have ever done. It’s the vicious food cycle I am going through at the moment. In fact now I can feel the effects of too much sugar from tonight’s binge.

I’ve said it, the B word. Binge. Yes, I am one of those people that for some reason finds no satisfaction in 1 piece of chocolate or cake and feels the need to eat the whole entire thing. I am trying to understand the science behind it and reading up but that has just thrown up a whole lot of other questions. Am I lacking some vitamin or mineral that stops these cravings? Do I not savour my food enough? Do I eat too fast? Is my body broken? Am I eating because I’m going through some emotion? I think it’s time to work the lay-by system again. I haven’t done one of tasks required for round 3 which is the kitchen clean-up. I think that is one part of my downfall at the moment. Having things I need to make something within easy reach. It will be done tomorrow night. Yes, IT WILL. I will throw out the chocolate. I will throw out the sugar. I don’t need it.

I have put on some weight in the 4 weeks and that does make me sad. I didn’t need this lousy feeling after feeling so great before. I said to myself last night, back to 1200 calories but today just didn’t work when I got up late and was flaffing around to make sure I got to work on time. That plan I made backfired so bad I faltered after lunch. I re-evaluated my excuses and added more in. I clearly needed to. I also updated my goals to include food goals to ensure I keep to the plan. I did also make my stupidly yummy almond and coconut slice which I think will need to be brought in to work for everyone else to eat so it doesn’t stay in the house for me to munch on in the evenings. It’s not terribly unhealthy but knowing my tendencies it’s better it’s gone.

Anyway, that’s my pouring of thoughts and frustrations for the month over food. I do want a better relationship with food. It is not evil. It is what fuels me to get me into the shape that I want and I WILL HAVE. So please anyone on Twitter or Facebook, keep reminding me of the goal. The goal to be lean and strong.

Round 2 has been the biggest challenge since I started the 12WBT and boy what a journey it has been. I am now leaner and stronger than I have ever been. My yoga practise has improved so much as has my running. I love this program so much that I am signing up again for round 3. Here’s a run down on my goals and my accomplishments.

• Maintain weight lost Well I lost more weight. Not much about a kilo.
• 15 push-ups on toes Done! I can actually do about 16-18 depending on the day and how my shoulders feel. So proud. Now I just do push-ups on toes then if I feel like I can’t hold it, I move onto the girly push-ups.
• Keep working with heavier weights. Try to chest press 1 set with 8kg dumbbells with good form. Well this has been a struggle because the gym changed the free weights section. No more smith machine (:( ) and there aren’t any between weights from 5kg to 10kg so I haven’t been able to access these without getting the evil eye from the PTs every now and then when I go into the PT room to grab them. I might try later in the week and see how I go. I do find that my form goes pear shaped when I get up weights. I’m sure I can but just haven’t done it.
• Buy a pair of size 6 pants I bought 2 size 6 pants in the last couple of weeks because a few brands I like their size 8s are way too big (yes looking at you vanity sized SABA and CUE). Nothing wrong with vanity sizing but really makes it a pain when all you want to do is grab clothes off the rack. I am a lovely UK size 8 now verified by my ASOS purchase last month although the skirt I bought is a little loose.
• Get body fat to 18% based on my scales Well on weigh-in day, I jumped on my scales and viola, 18% on the dot! That took me to a loss of 3.8% and according to my friend, 20% body fat loss once you do the math. I still don’t quite get it but hey, he said it sounds better.

Now that the round has finished I have learnt so much more about myself and it is still a process to break years of bad habits like snacking on the wrong foods and over-eating. I still struggle with that a lot and I am still consciously making myself aware of this. I think it will take more mindset lessons to get me through but it will happen one day. I am actually quite pleased now that I am actually making a lot more of my own food meals, even desserts. At least now I know what is going into my food as opposed to going into a cake shop and not knowing what proportion of ingredients they use. I can make modifications where I want and still get the dessert I want.

While I wait for round 3 to start, I am hoping to restart the lean and strong program from round 2 as well as doing some group classes again in preparation for round 3so that I don’t lose the strength that I have gained. I am also looking forward to the training session next Saturday where Michelle will be training us in our groups. It will be so much fun! Also the finale party is on the same day and I finally get to frock up and meet my friends from the program. Thankfully the venue is close to home so if I do want to disappear, it’s just a short walk home.

Bring on round 3 because I want myself a great beach body for summer! I haven’t felt this good in years!

Oh no, 2 weeks left on the program for Round 2. I’m scared. I have to say this round has been so difficult. It’s so easy losing weight. It’s harder trying to maintain it and even build some muscle. I upped my calories from 1200, to 1300  and now finally to 1400 and god, I’m struggling. I think it was the fact that I thought, “OK, now I can eat more, I’ll choose more calorific food.” Well, the calorific food involved muesli bars (which I think are great snacks, in moderation, not 3 at a time), cakes, biccies and fruit bread brought into work for morning tea. Sigh. So I’ve decided that with 2 weeks left, I am going to try my best to avoid or at least limit my snacks to unprocessed food or at least something more protein based. I’ve gotten rid of the baked goods I made over the weekend. I admit, I threw most of them out and then I did eat some. o_o

I really don’t find exercising hard so it had never been an issue of getting to the gym. I’m thinking I might add some cardio in the morning to get me going. So I will keep following the Nike Training Club workouts. I think they are really good. I wish my apartment had a bit more space for me to do the workout because I can do it without wearing headphones instead of at the gym and I have to wear my arm band and headphones. I end up picking workouts that don’t require much space. Another option would be to get the skipping rope out and skipping out on the balcony. I’m sure the neighbours won’t mind the sound of skipping. LOL.

Anyway, that is the plan of attack for the next 2 weeks. I also bought a pair of size 6 pants. They fit, i.e. I can zip them up. Yeah, there’s muffin top and I don’t think I could sit down in them. LOL. So hopefully at the end of the 2 weeks or at least at the end of next month, they will sit pretty!