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