Accountability August ~ in conclusion

First things first - Day 31

The last day went well.  I was low on energy though as my little girl was up a lot, crying in her sleep and when she wasn't awake and calling for me, hubby snored... so had minimal sleep.  Then we had a freaking hot day at 37 degrees - I was hot and bothered and tired.  I went out running in the morning, started out running for 28 minutes, but then walked the rest of the way to complete a 5 km... I was just too low on mojo to make it a powerful workout, but I kept on moving and later I did some dancing too to get my energy to spike during the afternoon otherwise I would have fallen asleep.

Eating was on track 100% with Proats for breakfast, Scrambled eggs+mushrooms+baked beans for lunch and roasted veg and mince for dinner.

Victory! August was a success!

I stayed accountable, even during hard days.  My eating was on track and perfect 23 out of 31 days, I exercised 18 times for a total of 13.5 hours and I ran almost a total of 78 km during the month.

Perhaps some will frown upon this and say that I can do better and yes I am pretty sure I can and I will work towards it. BUT and it's a big but, I had a hard month with some sick days, some sick days for my kids, a few social events, public holidays, a very tough month emotionally dealing with a 6-year old boy who is going through a rough time with ADHD/SPD/ODD, full time work, busy with so many things, keeping my house sort of decent, cooking, laundry etc etc. So I am so freaking proud of what I accomplished, I kept going, relying only on myself to stay on track as much as possible.

I don't think my month was so successful in terms of weight loss, it was like a seesaw - up, down, standstill / plateau, but my fitness or rather running made huge progress.

This is the spreadsheet I kept to stay accountable:

AUGUST	Eating on track	Exercise	Minutes	KM
1	Yes	Run	47	5.19 km
2	Yes	Run	44	4.92 km
3	Yes	Weights	30	N/a
4	Yes	Run	43	4.49 km
5	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
6	No	No	N/a	N/a
7	No	Run	50	5 km
8	No	No	N/a	N/a
9	No	Run	42	5 km
10	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
11	Yes	Run	44	4.5 km
12	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
13	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
14	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
15	Yes	Run	44	5.31 km
16	Yes	Run	42	5.74 km
17	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
18	Yes	Danced	50	N/a
19	Yes	Run	41	5 km
20	Okay, not perfect	No	N/a	N/a
21	Okay, not perfect	No	N/a	N/a
22	Yes	Danced	50	N/a
23	Yes	Run	44	5.16 km
24	Yes	Run	44	5.10 km
25	Yes	Run	42	6.06 km
26	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
27	No	No	N/a	N/a
28	No	No	N/a	N/a
29	Yes	Run	49	5.22 km
30	Yes	Run	52	6.04 km
31	Yes	Run	50	5 km
	23 Perfect days	18 workouts	13.5 hrs	77.73 km

I quite liked keeping track like this, so I already started a new spreadsheet for September.  Now I won't be posting on my blog everyday, but I will try and do a few blog posts on my progress.  I think I will just need to keep a closer eye on my weight and I will add a column and see what I weigh every day, just to try and see a pattern and why I struggle so much to loose weight.  Perhaps I will gain some insight.

Now on to bigger, better things - Spring!  I'm not exactly sure about my goals yet, but I will give it great thought and update my blog as soon as I decided.

I challenge everybody reading my blog to answer the following question!  Say yes, and make September a great month with me <3  xx

Accountability August - Day 30

The day went well.  I had a fabulous 6 km run... I actually wished I had more time to run to see if I can make it to 7 km, but alas work was waiting.

I also had a good macro day.  I had oats with peanut butter and milk for breakfast, toast with avo and chicken breast again for lunch and dinner was a Paleo beef patty with mushrooms, egg, tomato, avo and baked beans - absolutely delish.

1 Day to go!

Accountability August - Day 29

I climbed back on the IIFYM-wagon and gosh it's good to be back. Flexible eating is just the perfect way of eating and tracking for me. I'm a very methodical person and I like planning my day's menu down to the last gram of protein/carb/fat.  Mentally it helps me stay on track with my eating, because I know I don't over or under eat in any way.  If I keep on tracking there is no way I can't lose weight.  So I just made up my mind - September I'm going to make sure I track every single day.

Yesterday was a good day, my intake was 123g Carbs (goal 125g), 142g Protein (goal 148g) and 57g Fat (goal 65).  My meals included avo on Kilojoule Controlled toast with a side of chicken breast, dinner was funnily enough a Reboot meal of chicken, tomato and onion salad, butternut and garlic green beans and my snacks included droewors, a protein shake, a protein bar, a pear and 17g chocolate.  I didn't have breakfast hence the droewors and protein bar as my morning snack.  The protein shake is purely to up my protein intake to make sure I do not lose any lean muscle mass whilst losing weight.

My exercise for the day included a nice run to start the day with and I clocked 11k steps on the Fitbit.  It was a misty, eerie morning to run.  Dogs out on the road and those in their yards were on edge, cars driving without their headlights switched on, bad visibility. I wanted so bad to quit, my muscles were sore from early on, I developed a wee mid-run and I just wanted to turn back home, but instead I kept going. It was a slow run in comparison to my others this month, but it was a great exercise session in the end.  You know what they say about workouts - never miss a Monday!  That rings so true for me, I have to start my week with an exercise session otherwise the chance is good that it's going to be a terrible fitness week and I have a lack of motivation to get/keep going.

I just got an email from the running app I used - I broke my record for the farthest distance in a month, longest duration in a month and most calories burned in a month since I started using the app.  Yes! It means August was a fab month, and it's not done quite yet!

Okey dokey, let's get the second last day of August on the road!

Dinner & Mid-run pic

I absolutely love this running motivation!

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.

Accountability August - Days 26, 27 & 28

This is what my weekend was filled with:

Special family moments, celebrating hubby's 38th birthday, meeting my brand new nephew/godchild and spending time with my loved ones.  It was a YOLO weekend.  Pre planned, so didn't have time for exercising, didn't track what I ate, and definitely didn't think twice about drinking a glass of wine, eating a slice of birthday cake or even indulging in my mom's lemon meringue tart - she never accepts a no anyway!

In the grand scheme of things, an odd weekend/dinner/special occasion here and there, when I'm not exactly on track, it does not matter.  Simply because I know that I am always at the very least 80 to 90% on track.  Yes, it means my journey is much slower, but hey this is life afterall, I'm human and I am okay with it.  I rather have a slow journey to goal weight and enjoy my life, than having to fast track and not enjoying special occasions.

Now I'm on my 3rd last day of this August challenge, but it taught me a lot in terms of staying accountable, going off track momentarily, but getting right back on track afterwards.  I'm proud of my August, I do not regret anything (except for the few days it rained and I couldn't get a run in!).  Now I'm going to finish the month strong!  Then it's on to bigger, better things for Spring, because Summer is around the corner and I need to tone those flabby bits.

Accountability August - Day 25

DAY 25
Workout - 6km Run

Breakfast - Egg, tomato, onion, greenpepper, cucumber
Lunch - Tuna / Avo Salad
Dinner - Garlic & Almond Chicken Breast, Roasted Cauli/Broc/Carrots/Mushrooms
Snacks - Pear, Half Orange, small handful seeds & coffee with coconut milk

Accountability August - Day 24

What a freaking hard day... things have taken a turn for the worse with my boy again, so I was extremely emotional with a double dose of my little stress pills.  Again, I wanted to throw myself at food and eat my emotions.  I nearly did, I really came so close.  Somehow I didn't. I don't know how I survived the day without a binge. I have a huge slab of my favourite Marvelous Creations chocolate in the house, plus two slabs milk chocolate for hubby's birthday plus a bulk bag of the kids' chips, a tub ice-cream in the freezer - so there was temptations galore.  I know when I'm fragile I can go on a feeding frenzy and eat everything in sight - I know that I am an emotional eater to the extreme, I recognized my problem and I am fighting it.  Today I am glad that I stayed strong.  I'm still sad, but I am happy that I'm continuing to build myself up, not break myself down any further.

Menu for the day was: An egg, ham, tomato and a banana for breakfast, soup for lunch, Paleo beef stroganoff and veggies for dinner. Snacks included sunflower seeds I roasted with a few nuts and raisins and spiced with chili and paprika.   I hope I did not munch on this too much... it's a bit addictive!  A clean eating day.

I also did a 5 km run to start out my day.

Post run, breakfast & dinner

Accountability August - Day 23

Tuesday was a good one as well. Nothing much to report except what I ate and what I did...

My day started with a 5km run... with a bit adrenaline added towards the end of it when 4 dogs chased me.  Always fun.... not!  Luckily they were small and no teeth were sunk into my flesh.  

In the kitchen things went well too.  Egg, avo & tomato/curry relish for breakfast, soup for lunch and a pork chop with cauliflower and salad for dinner.  Snacks were an orange, biltong sticks and sunflower seeds.  I have such a thing for oranges at the moment, can't get enough!

Exactly one week left of the month!

Pre run, breakfast, snack & dinner

Accountability August - Day 22

We are almost through with this month!  Day 22 was a relatively normal day. I was insanely busy at work, I will be this whole week.  I woke up to an ice-cold day; it was windy, gale force wind and awful outside, so I did not go out to run, but I stayed inside and danced for 50 odd minutes.

Breakfast was a boiled egg and avo, lunch soup (duh!) and for dinner I made the most delicious tomato based beef curry and I had it with sweet potato mash and half of a banana.  Snacks for the day included biltong sticks, pear and almonds. A solid day.

Dinner & Afternoon Snack

Accountability August - Days 19, 20 & 21

This is going to be a quick one!  Work is busy busy busy.

Friday's weigh-in went well - down 700g :) And closer to my goal, yay!

Last day of the 5-day Reboot/Detox went well too and I started the day with a 5 km run.  Saturday & Sunday I was active the whole time, but didn't have a set workout... but with two kiddies - one hyperactive boy and a very busy 2-year old, how can you not be!  Eating was alright, could have been better, but no binges, which is a win.  I did have some chocolate, wine and nice coffees/hot chocolate though and I had a dessert yesterday.  Oh and pizza Saturday, okay maybe my eating wasn't as great as I thought now that I think of exactly what I ate... but still, it could have been far worse.

This is a new week! And I think I'm going to do another 5 days of Reboot / clean eating. I need every little boost I can get and my body is so stubborn at the moment.  I think my macros need recalculating, but I want to drop to below 80 first.

Let's rock this week! Whooo!

Accountability August - Day 18

I woke up with my throat feeling better, but sinus still bothering quite a bit.  I felt well enough and decided to go for a run after hubby and kids left for the day and before I start my work day, so I put on my running clothes only to find that it rains, so I had my morning coffee and waited to see if the rain stopped, but alas no such luck.  I then decided to dust off my Wii and do some dance workouts with my Just Dance disks.  It was great fun and I danced about 50 minutes until I was completely out of breath.

It was a fabulous day in the kitchen too and my meals was as follow:  Eggs, tomato, cucumber and avo for breakfast, same old same old soup for lunch and dinner was roast chicken with lots of veg.  Snacks were basically the same as the rest of the week: biltong, nuts, fruit.  I try and limit my fruit to two portions a day.  I really enjoyed my fruit this week - beautiful pears and sweet oranges, it tasted of goodness.

All in all a good day.  I'm happy with my week thus far!

Pre workout shot, breakfast, dinner and a pic of tv displaying Just Dance moves

Accountability August - Day 17

Day 17 was one of those days when I woke up and said "aaaargh fuckit!"  I woke up with a thick head, a sore throat and yucky sinus, so I decided to skip the run and lay in bed until 8 when I have to start work rather. At that stage I really wished I could go running, especially after the brilliant run the day before, but I needed the rest more.

I planned to go for a lunch-time walk, but then work was insane and I was stuck to my computer all day.  On the positive side though - I kept my eating clean and flooded my body with good food and nutrients; and I had the best meals!  I had a very happy tummy at the end of the day.

Breakfast was fried eggs with leftover pork, tomato and cucumber, lunch was soup again (it makes my life easier if I have soup in the fridge and freezer) and dinner was Paleo cottage pie, made with sweet potato and fragrant mince with lots of onion, garlic, chilli, turmeric, curry, ginger - all immune boosters.  The side salad was incredibly yum and a new combination for me - baby lettuce, Forelle pear, avo and Israeli cucumber.  Snacks included lean kudu biltong, a few almonds, an orange for vitamin C, coffee with coconut milk and green tea.

Day 17 = success!

Beautiful, yummy meals <3

You carry on, my dear

Accountability August - Day 16

It was a great day, if only every day could be like this.  I had a great run in the morning - did a fast (for me) 5.74km run. Meals were great - I had leftover stir fry for brekkie, soup again for lunch and for dinner I made pork roast, braised onions, butternut and salad.  Snacks included small amounts of biltong, nuts, fruit, 3 cups of coffee, 2 cups green tea and lots of water.

Post run selfie and app results for the run; dinner

Accountability August - Day 15

Day 15 was an awesome success!  I had a great run to start my day off and did a fast-paced (fast-paced for me anyway) 5.3 km.  I was red-faced and exhausted afterwards, but it felt so good.

Reboot also went well.  I had one whole egg and one egg white with chicken and tomato for breakfast, beef and pepper soup and a small banana for lunch and beef stir fry for dinner.  My snacks included an orange, almonds and biltong.  Reboot makes my tummy so happy, you can really have awesome meals plus as an added bonus Reboot makes me less bloated instantaneously!

I have stopped the Sleek Geek Move More Challenge.  Even though it's a fab challenge, I have to simplify my life to feel in control again. Less is more right now.  So my focus is to get a run in for the day and to keep my eating on track.  As soon as I complicate it with other challenges and too many things  I feel out of control when I don't manage it all.

My last weigh-in was on 5 August when I saw a gain (confession time!) thanks to birthday celebrations.  Crossing fingers, holding thumbs that I'll see a loss on Friday when I weigh again!  I'm so keeping the faith here!  I hope my scale plays along nicely ;)

Red-faced & sparkly post workout; and two of my meals for the day:

Accountability August - Days 12, 13 & 14

We're in the middle of August and I think it's time to step it up a bit!  This past 3 days went great.  Food intake was exactly like it should have been - pre-planned meals and snacks, all within my IIFYM lifestyle, and I wanted to exercise I just decided to lay low for a bit longer and I'm glad I did.  I always reckon that eating is the biggest part of a healthy lifestyle and exercise is the smaller, say 20% of it.  I would like to think exercise is a bigger part, but in the end you can't out-exercise a bad diet.

Coming from a couch-potato background a couple of years ago, I am glad to say now that I enjoy being active. I especially enjoy the running at the moment.  I always dreamed of becoming a runner, I just never thought I had it in me.  I had such a good run this morning, a real feel-good run!  That's why I said I'm glad I rested a couple of days, now my body feels a bit stronger and I am going to give it my all this week.  I am aiming for 5 solid runs!  Let's hope life doesn't come in the way.

Further to that, I decided I'm joining my dear friend a.k.a partner-in-crime when it comes to weightloss, Jess in doing a 5-day Reboot.  So for 5 days only clean eating - no sugar, starch, dairy, etc.  I will concentrate on taking in meat/chicken, vegetables, fruit, nuts & good oils like coconut and avo.  I think a bit of detox will do my body good!

So I'm amped for this next week. Let's do this thing!

Accountability August - Day 11

It was an emotional day, but I started out with a nice, easy-paced run.  I think I did about 4.5 km although my tracker malfunctioned at some point.  It was a great day in the kitchen as well and I stayed strong with soup for lunch and chicken enchilada style for dinner.

I realized that I really need to focus on not falling off the wagon right now, it will be so easy to self sabotage myself now.  I need to focus on how far I've come and not look at how far I still have to go, because that is when I get disheartened.  I need to keep my head strong and my heart in it, then I will be successful in this war I started against my fat rolls.

I lift my glass of water and cheers to a happy, healthy weekend! May it be a good one!  I will update again on Monday.

Accountability August - Day 10

Just about a third of the way through the month already.  I wish this month was more of a success to date, I wish I didn't feel so low, but there are a big chunk of the month left and I am trying my hardest to make a success of it.

Yesterday was a success in my eyes.  Eating was back on track.  I ate two home-made cookies, but I tracked it and included it in my days' macro allowance.  I didn't exercise, I didn't get my steps in and I did not do the dancing for the Sleek Geek challenge, because I was feeling so low and my body didn't want to cooperate.  It took every ounce of strength not to give myself over to emotional eating or eating for energy, hence it was a successful day.

Accountability August - Day 6, 7, 8 & 9

I had a long weekend, so I have to do a bumper update for the 4 days.

First of all - my biggest news.  I did the 5km Diva Run yesterday!  It was a tough race for me with loads of hills.  Also I'm not used to running without music, and music usually helps me to push through and get out of my own head.  I am glad to say though, with some help from my dear friend who did it with me, I managed to complete the whole race without even walking a single step. I really think I earned this medal!

The rest of my long weekend I was relatively active - I did a nice 4km run along the beach on Sunday, I did a lot of steps, and I did most of the Sleek Geek challenge - but not all as the kids kept me quite busy.  I am happy with my fitness weekend though!  Couch potato no more

The thing of Accountability August was to... well... stay accountable, so I have to own up.  My eating was dismal this weekend.  I had way too much wine - just over a bottle this whole weekend, which isn't really bad considering social events etc, but in my world to achieve weightloss I really shouldn't.  I also had way too many snacks, way too many unhealthy meals and chocolate.  In retrospect I needed to let my hair down a bit, I am incredibly stressed with current situations in my life, so relaxing a bit did my soul good and in the end my goal is my own personal well-being - body, mind AND soul.  So I'm okay with it. I'm not going to weigh on Friday though, but what I am going to do is damage control and I will clean up my eating as of TODAY!

Accountability August - Day 5

Day 5

In between a busy work schedule and psychiatrist appointment and and and I didn't get to exercise at all. But eating perfect, so I am happy.

Today is probably also going to be a no-exercise day, but I will try and fit a run into my day tomorrow and catch up on my Sleek Geek Challenge.  Planning to keep my eating in check today, although visiting my sister and I know she'll have a treat so will only have something small.

Monday is going to be a conscious YOLO day.  If you are like me, oblivious to all these abbreviations, after a google search one day I figured out it means You only live once, and I love it!  I shouldn't really call it a cheat day,  because I won't be cheating all day, but I will be having cinema popcorn and lunch out with hubby.  Will start my day with a lekker run though.  Tuesday I have my second 5km race!

Accountability August - Day 4

Day 4

It went okay health wise!  Mentally and emotionally the day ended in shambles though.

• I did a run at sunset - 4.5 km
• I did 30 squats for the Sleek Geek challenge
• Eating were good and in check
• Did just over 14k steps, so made up for the 3k shortfall of Wednesday

Steps, beautiful sunset while running, and post run selfie

Accountability August - Day 3

Day 3

Day 3 was okay.

It was voting day, so we were all off and at home. Didn't get much sleep because my little girl started with her night wakings again, this time getting out of bed when she wakes up.  My son keeps acting out with extreme anger issues, that coupled with my daughter's terrible twos made for a difficult day.  I kept with my day's goals though, so success!

I feel bloated though.... eeek!  And it looks like I'm sporting a food baby (it shows on the pic below), all the repercussions after my birthday and this passed weekend's carb fest.

My day included:

• Exercise - weights & kettlebell workout
• Sleek Geek Challenge - 30 Burpees (oh yuck)
• Fitbit steps - just over 7000 (it's difficult to reach 10000 on a non-running day when I'm busy with the kids and the weather is crap), so 7k is good - had to do some dancing to reach that.
• Macros were reached successfully - my meals included low cal toast with avo and a generous portion of lean biltong for my protein (best meal ever) and a mince-dinner (nothing exciting)

Lunch, post workout, barbell pre workout and a pic my boy took mid lift

Accountability August - Day 2

Day 2

It was a tough day!  But I made it through. Had extreme problems with my boy's medication that made him aggressive, so psychiatrist advised we take him off yesterday. At 1 teacher phone saying it was the worst day ever, she brought him home for me to avoid further problems at aftercare, scheduled follow up with psychiatrist, but all this (and more) so caused me wanting to do emotional eating. I almost did, I seriously contemplated stuffing my face with Oreos and every morsel of sugar I can find. I ate 1 Oreo and then found the strength to stop. I'm fighting the same demons today (day 3), with even more issues, but I'm fighting hard and will report back tomorrow as to how today went.

Here's a summary of how my day went wrt health and fitness:

• I ran 4.92 km and saw the most beautiful sunrise.
• Sleek Geek's Move More Challenge for the day was 6000 steps, I aimed for 12000 and did 13000.
• Macros were spot on, bar one Oreo. Main meals were soup and stir fry.
• I did not give up - kudos to me...

Post Run Selfie, meals, sunrise while out running and my steps for the day

Accountability August - Day 1

Day 1

It was a good day!

• I ran 5.19km in the morning
• My Fitbit steps for the day totaled just over 10000
• Sleek Geek's challenge for the day was 30 star jumps - I completed this
• I did 5 sets of 5 deadlifts @ 30kg (and I'm feeling this today)
• Macros were perfect. My two main meals for the day were Beef & Veggie Soup and for dinner Rump steak, sweet potato chips and avo salad

Pre & Post Run Selfies and Dinner:

Accountability August / Awesome August

Wahahaha I can't decide what to call my challenge for the month of August, I just know it's going to be AWESOME, and I'm going to stay ACCOUNTABLE.

Okay, last time I blogged I'm close to breaking the 80's and I got closer with only 1.2 kg to go, but then my boy's birthday happened and then mine and I had carbs galore and was a lazy pants with this cold and rain we had.  So I don't know where my weight is sitting at, I will weigh Friday and see.

It's a new month and I am super amped about it and I'm going to give it my all this month, because I want to be in the 70's by Spring.  So my plan for this month is as follow:

1. I'm going to update my blog every day to stay accountable.  I will blog the exercise I did, the steps according to my Fitbit and if I stayed within my allocated macros.
2. I'm going to take photos - selfies post exercise and sometimes of my food etc and blog that too.  More accountability (So if you're subscribed and the posts irritate you, unsubscribe now cause there's gonna be 31 posts this month!)
3. I'm going to do Sleek Geek's Move More Challenge.
4. I'm gonna run! Also doing the Diva Run on Women's Day.
5. Eat according to my macros.
6. Lift (borrowed some extra weights from my BIL)

Let's do this!