Weigh In - August 12th

This week I have discovered the best workout ever for your calves....walking in safety boots!

My work project for this quarter is to do an audit on our fixed assets and this has had me spending time out in the workshop with our operations team and means I have to wear full safety gear; big glasses like you used to get in science class for experiments, luminous jacket that makes me look like a traffic cone, and safety boots that make my feet look very big and square...it's a very attractive look! After 1 day of wearing the boots I woke up almost crying with the pain in my calves. I cannot believe how much they hurt!

I never get calf pain from dancing or working out, and I always thought my calves were pretty strong from Relevés and working my way up to Pointe but I was definitely wrong. My respect for our ops team tripled this week after experiencing the pain they go through from wearing those boots everyday. I'm now off to go investigate ankle weights, in the hope they'll do just as good of a workout as the boots do.


I started logging my food again last week and after seven days I lost just under a pound, which I'm pretty pleased with. I'm now on day 3 of week 2 and it's still going pretty well. It was very easy to get back into the habit, and it'll be even easier when I eventually get into my own kitchen. I've never been this excited about a kitchen before but I honestly can't wait!

My lovely boyfriend spent Friday night being my personal trainer at the gym. He had me doing lots of weight training using the machines and then introduced me to what he described as my "new best friend" the medicine ball a.k.a Bally.

Every time I've done sit ups in the past I've never used any weight, but Omar had me practicing them with Bally. That hurt! I managed a few but it was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. That's given me something else to work on, not quite sure Bally and I will be best friends though.
So all in all, this has been a week of getting back into old habits and finding new stuff to work on. Good progress in my opinion!

Weigh In - 15th July

The last week has been pretty rubbish if I'm honest. Getting my exam results was definitely a highlight, and going out celebrating on Friday night was fun, but Saturday and Sunday were just days I'd quite like to forget very quickly.

Despite my rubbish few days, I'm proud of myself for not cheering myself up with food. If anything, I went the opposite way and just didn't eat enough. But anyway, today was weigh in day (because I forgot yesterday again...I'll get better at remembering I promise), and it wasn't good. For the first time in a while the range I'd set myself as being an acceptable maintaining limit was exceeded.

I'm really annoyed that I've gone over, but the only thing I can blame is my laziness by not going to the gym. So it's time to snap out of that mentality and get myself back there.

If only my possible new gym would answer their emails about membership and that would be sorted.

If they don't respond tomorrow I'll just have to continue at my current gym until I get sorted. But I really do need to get back to do something.

Last night was supposed to be my last night at dancing until September, but a great opportunity came up and I was invited to join the professional group for a conditioning/strengthening/flexibility class during the holidays. I'm so excited. My teacher said we'd go over some of the professional routines they've done for their exhibitions/conferences/parties etc so hopefully I might be able to prove I can keep up and be asked to join permanently.

But to do that, I really do need to make the effort to get back in shape, so it's definitely gym time.

No more excuses.

April Monthly Round-Up

So it's a few days late, but here's my April monthly round-up.

Goal Number 1 - Complete the operational level of my CIMA qualification

I'm now only 18 days away from my next exam (wow, is that all?!), meaning that for the next 18 days my life is largely going to resolve around revising. I have a practice exam day on the 12th May which I'm hoping will be a major help in my revision steps. I'm feeling relatively alright about the prospect of sitting my exam but we'll see how it goes on the day.

Goal Number 2 - Move into my own home

So my flat is now the next in line to get the roof put on, and the aim is still for a move in date at the end of June. My focus is now on buying bedroom curtains ready for move in day, and then just big stuff like Fridge/Freezer and washing machine. I'm so excited.

Goal Number 3 - Loose a stone in weight

April wasn't a great month what with Easter giving me chocolate and me not being very well, so I didn't get any closer to my target. I managed an 8 minute run, the longest I've done all year, non-stop in my cardio routine, so I just need to keep going on that and soon I'll be seeing more progress.

I started the 30 day abs, squat and plank challenge at the beginning of the month, but as I seemed to loose my ability to properly do a plan I only ended up completing the abs and squat one. The progress across the 30 days was amazing, my tummy is a lot flatter than it used to be and my core strength so much better than it was. Now the challenge is over, I don't want to loose all my progress so I'm going to try a few different abs exercises each night. Taking some of the ideas from these two Youtube videos I've found to give me some variety.

 

Goal Number 4 - Get my splits on both legs

I'm still so close and keep trying to push myself that extra step. I'm going to try a few more exercises on my theraband to help my get that little bit further in time for my dance show.

Goal Number 5 - Learn to cook

I managed to make some chocolate coconut cupcakes (which weren't very healthy) and then a chicken and chorizo bake, and a beef casserole all from my new cook book. The results were rather good and I'll definitely be trying them again.

Plan for May

May's goal is to focus on passing my exam, and not put weight on in the mean time. I'm going to watch what I eat, and still aim to do at least one workout a week so I don't loose the progress I've made. I'm going to keep up with some ab exercises and stretch as much as I can so I'm in a good position for the dance show at the end of June.

100 Happy Days...Day 66

Day 66 - Seeing Progress

Despite not having the greatest of months, I've seen a lot of progress this week in regard to my body. Yesterday I found a pair of trousers in the bottom of my drawer I bought 2 summers ago, and thought I'd give them a try and see how they fit. Last time I did so I struggled to get them fastened, yesterday they went on with no problems and were surprisingly comfortable.

Today, I went for a pair of trousers I bought at the start of the year. They're a very skinny cut so when I got them they were quite snug...but they were supposed to be. Every time I've moved today they've fallen down a little bit further and I've spent half the day pulling them back up again. I may have lost some weight, but I'm surprised I've lost enough to see this big of a difference in my clothes.

Yesterday I finished my 30 day challenge, so today I took my review photographs and sent them to my boyfriend for his views on my progress. The quality wasnt great but his comment when he saw them was "The line on your stomach doesn't look as prominent that means you've lost weight", I'm taking that as a good thing.

I've still got a long way to go, I can definitely tell myself that my stomach is flatter, but I'm going to continue with the challenge through May to make the difference even greater and my stomach even stronger.

100 Happy Days...Day 58

Day 58 - Seeing progress

So today I was back at dance after a few weeks off and I'm very pleased to say that my 30 day challenge has majorly helped me at class today. We do lots of core exercises and normally I struggle through them, but today I managed to complete the exercises with only a little bit of wobbling throughout. So pleased with how much progress I've made with this challenge so far. 1 more week to go!