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!