Going it alone…and a couple of more pics

It’s taken a while for me to get my butt into gear and post on this blog. I really didn’t think I would leave it as long as I have. Excuses – well it has been pretty crazy the last 2 weeks, I’ve had another birthday (42 now, woo hoo!) and generally the lead up to Christmas is just nuts. But they are excuses, and truthfully I’ve also been a bit reluctant to post. I’m not sure why. Maybe it is to do with ‘post 12wbt blues’ and being unsure as to how I feel?! I am going to make a concerted effort to post here every couple of days, as I feel it helps me to keep on track and reflect on my progress.

As I’ve posted previously, I have now finished two rounds of the Michelle Bridges 12WBT and I have decided to go it alone for the next 3 months/12 weeks and see how I go. I have previously downloaded her Advanced Lean & Strong program which is pretty much a body sculpting/body shaping program, focusing on heavy lifting and minimal cardio. For the past two weeks I’ve been following this faithfully. My weight has pretty much stayed the same but has gone back up to 57 kgs. I know this is to be expected based on other girls’ experiences of the program – the focus is not so much on weight loss and fitness, but on building muscle. Therefore the scales are probably going to be a little crazy and this is when I really need to focus on my measurements and photographic ‘evidence’.

I must admit, I do feel somewhat lost without the 12WBT. I really loved the structure of it and not having to think – just do! The menu plans and programs were all set out for me and all I had to do was the weekly grocery shop and follow each day’s menu plan, and do the training for the specific day. Also her mindset videos and pep talks were awesome and I miss those too. Although I am still following the program unofficially, I am now having to do my own menu planning which is time consuming. I have actually printed out an old menu plan this weekend and I am following that, so it wasn’t as time consuming as Week 1. I may just do that from now on, rather than coming up with a week’s worth of meals from scratch. I can print off one of Michelle’s weekly menus and make a few tweaks here and there – much easier for time poor me.

I am loving the Advanced Lean & Strong. I feel so powerful lifting those heavy weights and although it hurts like hell on the last few reps, I have not been a wuss and I have seen it through. I think my muscle definition is pretty awesome (I am lucky that I have always put on muscle relatively easily) and I just need to drop a little more body fat to really see my results. I am trying hard to be patient (again, not my virtue!) as I know that in the last month, we ramp up the cardio to really strip away the fat. I’ve decided if I’m not entirely happy with the end result, I’ll do another round of 12WBT and do Advanced Lean & Fit or the 10KM running program to really get lean.

Nutrition – it hasn’t been too bad but if truth be told, Ive probably eaten over my calories most days. Given my birthday celebrations have dragged on for 5 days now, there has been way too much cake, chocolate, wine, fast food and general processed crap in my diet. I am preparing myself for a gain on the scales come Wednesday but I totally own that. As from tomorrow, it is back to clean eating and getting re-focused. I know I have let my nutrition slide somewhat over the past 2 weeks and I think I am hungrier with the heavier lifting, but I am trying not to blow my calories too much over the 1200 for each day and certainly not blow it on some of the garbage I’ve been putting into my body.

Here’s a couple of selfies that I took a couple of weeks ago at the same time as my end of round pics 🙂