'Blaidd's Year of Super Hero in Training [2013]

[Blaidd]

Wed 7 Aug

Chicken Rissoles, Ham & Cheese Sandwich

 

Mac & CHeese

 

Popcorn & Slushi

 

Orange, banana, nuts

 

Proteins: 69.98 Carbs: 247.96 Cals: 1827 Fats: 66.48

 

Steps: 4695

[Blaidd]

Mon 12 Aug

Beef Stir Fry Pork Chops, Sausage & Chicken with Mash

Mixed Nuts

 

Protein: 102.67 Carbs: 117.73 Cal: 1786 fats: 101.06

[Blaidd]

Tues 13 August

Pork Chop, Chicken & Baked Potato Spaghetti Meatballs Nuts & Orange

 

Protein: 93.75 Carbs: 172.31 Cals: 1665 Fats: 66.08

[Blaidd]

Wed 14 Aug

Spaghetti meatballs Chicken Chow Mein Mixed Nuts & Biltong

 

Protein: 96.56 Carbs: 122.55 Cals: 1675 Fats: 89

[Blaidd]

Thu 15 Aug

Cashew Chicken Chicken & Red Pesto on Ciabatta Homemade Trail Mix & ORanges

 

Protein: 112.26 Carbs: 93.29 Cals: 1857 Fats: 116.02

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day 1:

BCAA's

4 glasses of water

Snacks: 1/2c trail mix, 1/2 jar pickled cocktail onions

Lunch: Butternut & Bacon soup with 3 boiled eggs - taste way better than it sounds

Supper: General Tso's Chicken Meatballs (adapted) over a pureed sweet potato

 

Steps: 4050

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day 2:

Survived the day with little effort, but woke up in the middle of the night with such a bad tummy. I also felt a little lethargic in the late afternoon and wasn't hungry when supper time arrived (but was ravenous before bed).  I was expecting some symptoms at some point. My body decided to tell me it was hungry before my feeding window so i fed it water.  Come now body we're retraining your responses, play along please.

 

Lunch: Leftover General Tso's Chicken Meatballs with pureed sweetpotato

Dinner: 4x eggs scrambled with cheese

Snacks: 1/4 cup trail mix, 3 pickled cucumbers

Water: 4 glasses

 

Steps: 6341

 

Front Squats:

50kg/5/1

55/5/1

60/5/3

 

Bench Press:

30/5/3

35/5/2

 

Deadlift (mixed grip):

30/5/1

35/5/4

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day3:

Not a bad day honestly.  I made stir fry for dinner and i wasn't even tempted to eat it with the rice that i had made for Jay.  I had moment of "kill all things" during the night when i was woken up by the revellers who were continuing their party downstairs.  Of course that irritation was not new, because i get upset with them no matter when it is that they behave like this.  I did however fall asleep plotting my revenge

 

Lunch: Crockpot Ropa Vieja with steamed veggies

Supper: Seafood stirfry - which wasn't that great, the weirdest textures

Snacks: trail mix

Water: 2 glasses

 

Steps: 2846

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day 4:

Symptoms: Slight headache when i woke up - had a sinutab, it went away.  No cravings yet.

 

Lunch: Seafood Stirfry & Steamed Veggies

Supper: Crockpot Ropa Vieja

Snacks: handful of trail mix

Water: 4 glasses

 

Steps: 3537

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day5:

Lunch: Salad (lettuce, sweet piquante peppers, strawberries, avo, carrot & beets) with curried pilchards

Supper: Leftover meat hash (italian sausage, cajun pork chops, lemon herb chicken) with Scramble eggs

Dessert: Pan Fried Fruit (banana, strawberries, persimmon) in coconut oil with coconut cream

 

Steps: 5716

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day 6:

 

Lunch: sausage + pan fried fruit salad (strawberries, persimmon & banana) with coconut cream

Supper: Grilled chicken with cauliflower rice

Snack: Strawberries & coconut cream, Cashews

 

Steps: 3272

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day 7:

I was a little wobbly at gym, but i still put the effort in.

 

Lunch: Chicken salad

Supper: Adapted Paleo Beef Burgundy (without wine).

Snacks: Cashews, droe wors

 

Steps: 2517

 

Back Squats:

50/5/1

55/5/1

60/5/2

65/5/1

 

Bench Press:

30/5/2

35/5/2

40/5/1

 

Inverted Rows:

10/3

 

Meal Plan for days 8 - 14:

Coconut CHicken Tenders with "Creamed Spinach" and roasted Beets & Carrots

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Cauliflower Alfredo sauce and shrimps

Ostrich Cottage Pie with Carrot & Cauliflower mash

Pulled pork taco salad

Meatballs with Sweet potato noodles with steamed beets and carrots

Kung Pao Chicken over cauliflower rice

Ostrich burgers on Sweet potato buns with carrot & beet salad

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day8:

It's going well.  Still mostly symptom free.

 

Lunch: Leftover Paleo Beef Burgundy Stew

Supper: Coconut coated chicken tenders (that i burnt) with roasted beets and carrots

Snacks: Orange and trailmix

 

Steps: 3134

[Blaidd]

Whole30 Day 9:

Woke up with a minor headache, tummy ache and slight lethargy.  One thing i am struggling with is that i don't have any kind of desire to go to the gym in the morning (which i normally love doing).  I think it might just be a hang up from the previous few weeks.

 

Lunch: left over coconut chicken tenders with roasted beets and carrots

Supper: Pulled Pork Taco Salad (lettuce, pork, homemade salsa and homemade guacamole)

Snacks: Trailmix

 

Steps:3706

 

Whole30 Day 10:

My first restaurant obstacle challenge and i won, i think. I didn't even think about dessert (seriously i was full after the main course) although i did consider a salad as a starter cos i wasn't sure whether the mains would be enough, but it was. I didn't have wine either.

 

Lunch: Leftover Taco Salad

Supper: Grilled fish in lemon juice with steamed mushrooms, carrots and spinach - it was incredibly amazing.  They really got it right on this one.

 

Steps: don't know yet, i haven't logged my fitbit yet for yesterday

[Blaidd]

So maybe i should do a round up of the past 6 weeks (can you believe it's over already - where has the time flown?).

 

Challenge 2013.6 Round Up

I had a rough start to my challenge with all the emotional upheaval, but i was super proud of myself for coming through it ok.  My exercise and my life took a lot of tumble and spin, but my diet didn't seem to falter all that much.  Although i haven't pulled great grades, i think i didn't do too badly in light of what was happening elsewhere in my life (these challenges, unfortunately or fortunately don't happen in isolation - it's not the biggest loser ranch or anything).  Some of you might remember that last challenge i bought a skirt that was too small, so that i had a goal to reach by the end of the year.  Well the skirt fits (although it's a little short) and i'm totally astounded that i reached that goal a good 7 weeks before flying out.  I need a new measuring stick

 

 

I'm not terribly sad by my progress and here's why.
 

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1. Superheroes need to be Strong and/or Fast

I love going to the gym and for the past year it hasn't been hard for me to do so.  But last challenge I suddenly lost all desire to get there and do anything.  I'm not too worried about it, because I'm currently doing a Whole30 and diet is 80% of the battle. However, the energy and joy I get out of working out has been seriously lacking in my life and my day. So we're going to force the habit back in and hopefully the desire will return too.

 

I was working out in a 2 day on and 1 day off routine and it was working fantastically for me. I'm going to go back to that and the schedule will look a little like this:  Day 1 = Heavy Lifting (I want to hit my targets for this year before the year ends) and Day 2 = a combo of Cardio, Boxing and Body Weight exercises.  I will post my workouts here (not in my Battle Log). I'm waiting for my one bestie to confirm, but there's a possibility that i'll be doing the Colour Me Crazy 5km Run on 26 October. 

 

Goal: 4 workouts per week

Measurement: A = 24 workouts, B = 21, C = 18

Reward: NF Women's Burnout Racerback Tank Top

 

 

 

On average i only made like 2 workouts a week. But i did a 5k in all of that have a starting point to improve on (43min) when i do the C25K next year, sometime. I've had to deload my bar, because my form started getting wobbly on my squats around the 70kg mark, so i've gone down again to regain my form.  I'd rather do it right than post big numbers.  I need to focus more on this. 

 

I did a few boxing sessions this challenge and i even tried my hand at starting Convict Conditioning.  I'd like to do more boxing, because personally i feel like it's a better cardio workout than running or cycling (which i love).  It also builds other strength for my CC and even for my future pole dancing attempts (again probably something i will only focus on towards the end of next year). I have put CC on my backburner for this year and it is something i'd definitely like to look at in the beginning of next year again.  For the rest of this year I am going to focus on re-upping my form and hitting my lifting goal for the year (only 5kg more on my squat and about 15 on my deadlift - did i mention i hate deadlifting).  I also want to focus on my boxing, particularly doing more of it and getting some of the punches to be more powerful and landing correctly.  I will keep working on it.

 

 

Goal: 4 workouts per week

Actual: 12 workouts

Rating: D

Reward: no NF tank for me just yet

 

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2. Superheroes Stand Up Straight

Over the years I've managed to develop a slight curvature of the spine (and as a result a slight hunchback).  This annoys me because I spent many years dancing ballroom which was all about straight lines and perfect posture.  I work 8 - 9 hours in front of my computer daily so it's time I start working around it.  Unfortunately I've already been shot down for a standing desk so I need to work something else out.  Luckily my office is pretty ergonomic already (space to move around and do exercises in my office, a screen at eye level and a ergonomic chair with a tilt).

 

My posture is pretty important, especially because I eventually want to get back into dancing, but I wear heels daily.  Honestly, slouching in heels is not ideal (so I don't). So I'm setting an alarm to go off every hour to remind me to do something for my posture - take a walk around/posture exercises/rectifying my posture as I'm sitting etc.

 

Goal: 9 interventions daily, 5 days/week

Measurement: A = 270 interventions, B = 210, C = 150

Reward: Designer Perfume (I haven't decided which one yet)

 

 

I was doing normal interventions and then i started getting back spasms, so i started doing physio and mobility to work out the pain.  It's done well, but i'm still going for spinal realignment with a chiro over the next few weeks.  Ever since doing the interventions, i've noticed that my back has a much more pronounced s curve than i initially thought.  The Chiro should help with that and i'm going to continue with physio once a fortnight.  The pain has subsided and i am definitely sitting much straighter than i used.  I'd like to continue working on the posture, but perhaps look at it again as a challenge in the new year - we will see.

 

 

Goal: 9 interventions daily, 5 days/week

Actual: 258 interventions

Rating: B (almost an A)

Reward: I am still going to reward myself with a perfume (just a smaller version).  The one I chose is Davidoff Cool Water - it smells like the ocean on me.

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3. Superheroes Don't Consume Their Kryptonite

On Day 1 of this challenge I will be starting day 15 of my Whole30 challenge. I'll spend the first 2 weeks of the challenge doing Whole30 and then I plan on spending Week 3 reintegrating (yay for dairy), and then the last 3 weeks trying to maintain.  My birthday is at the end of Week 5 and I'm having an afternoon tea party (making all the goodies myself), so that will be my one indulgence this challenge.  I will however allow for 2 more days during the challenge for lapses in judgement

 

My meals need to consist of a minimum 1 protein and 3 veggies.  No processed foods!  I will post my meals here (not in my Battle Log).

 

Goal: Maintain a Whole Food Diet

Measurement: A = 78 meals, B = 72, C = 66

Reward: A new swimming costume

 

 

I successfully completed a W30 challenge.  I win!!  I was so impressed with myself on the challenge and the results were reward enough.  I didn't do conventional reintroduction the way to book suggests it, and that left me suffering a bit. I have realised that gluten has to make a permanent exit from my diet (as if i didn't know this already, but i was in denial).  Dairy isn't too bad as long as i have it in moderation and goat's milk dairy is waaaayy less of an issue for me than cow's milk.  Luckily getting my hands on goat's milk isn't too hard (my mum's sister has a farm and regularly sends us cheese and stuff).  Also i discovered that Jay's bestie's uncle has an organic wine/olive farm and they're more than happy to supply me with as much olive oil as i want

 

Sugar and gluten combo left me ill ill ill!!  No more thank you.  I am able to stomach honey (which i get from my mum's beehive) so i'm not a total loss for sweeteners, but i'm not too bothered anyway.  I can barely stomach sweet foods - i had one of my favourite drinks yesterday and i almost gagged because it's so sweet!  Apparently it's always been that sweet, i just never noticed it before.  More and more i'm letting go of the sweet things. 

 

I was also super impressed with my attitude over the past 2 months when it came to food.  I wasn't as inclined to binge eat when feeling emotional and i turned to my emotions to deal instead.  I'd love to say that i've completely slayed that dragon, but not quite yet.  It's still a process and i still need to reach the next town in this journey - but it's in sight and i can see it getting closer. Other things i've started doing - eating before heading out, so not to be tempted to nibble on other things; i order water with all my meals and drink on that as well as my drinks in order to water them down a bit; i peruse the menu properly and ask questions about the food (my friends and waiters really get annoyed sometimes, but meh to them) and i am not entirely tempted to buy all the sweets on the way to the checkout counter (i look at them and if i see something new i pick it up give it a squizz and put it back again).  So there's definite attitude shifts there.

 

 

Goal: Maintain a Whole Food Diet

Actual: 76 meals

Rating: B

Reward: A new swimming costume - i'm going to reward myself, because i freaking deserve it!!

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Side Quest 1: No Savings, No Brazil

Just a bit of background, I've decided to save up for the bills of 1 month so that my whole December salary is used for me trip (I'm pretty much about 60% of the way there). I need to live as close to a weekly budget as possible.  At the end of the month I do all my main spending - so bills are paid, savings are set aside and monthly grocery goodies are bought.  The only thing I really spend money on per week is food (I'm not eating out at the moment, because of Whole30).  So I've set aside R300 per week for groceries.

 

Goal: Spend no more than R420/week on groceries and related goodies.

Measurement: A = <R420, B = R420, C = >R370 & R420 < (averaged out)

Reward: Extra money available for my savings

 

 

This was a complete and utter fail.  I spent so much money, but the funny thing is that i still managed to put away R4000 over this period.  Which makes me wonder whether i underestimated my daily spend and how much disposal income i actually have??  I think I want to try a budgeting goal again for the upcoming challenge with different parameters and see if i come up weirdly again.  Either way this was a fail in terms of the goal, but a win in terms of the savings.

 

Oh i nearly forgot - i also opened a pension fund for myself and have asked my broker to look into a life policy (i feel weirdly grown up all of the sudden).

 

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Side Quest 2: Complete Christmas Shopping

In order to relax *before* I fly to Brazil, I need to have all my goodies together so that the first few work-free days can be spent relaxing prior to my flight. So I have a list of things to complete before the last long weekend of the year. The most intense of these is my Christmas shopping.  I have 14 gifts left to acquire before 1 December (I refuse to go shopping after 1 Dec - it's stupid crazy in the stores).

 

Goal: Purchase all 14 gifts before the end of the challenge

Measurement: A = 14 gifts, B = 12, C = 10

Reward:  More time to relax in December

 

 

Every single christmas gift was bought by yesterday and all but 3 have been wrapped.  I don't have to go into the stores in December to do Christmas shopping - i am so relieved and quite thrilled that it's one less thing to worry about.  I just have to plan a menu for christmas lunch (happening before i fly out) that needs to cover vegetarians, vegans, gluten free and diabetics - i think i'll just serve W30 Not a big deal, really.  And then i just have to buy a few more items of clothing.

 

I've already sheduled my dates and times around my flight (there's literally 3 days between the last day of work and when i fly). My siblings and i have booked one of those whole days for our get together and my uncle is down from Hong Kong so he's joining us (with his wife and their 2.5 kids - she's recently pregnant). My aunt also wants to do a breakfast, but honestly i am not going to make that - not enough time in my schedule. but i'm quite happy with what i achieved in doing this goal.

[Blaidd]

Blaidd's "One More KISS" Challenge [2013.7]

 

Main Goal: Fit and Fighting for Brazil (still)

I leave for Brazil in 6 weeks - eek!!!! - and i still have a bit to do before i get there.  If you've been following me for the past few months, you'd know that my main goal is to have a comfortable flight to Brazil.  It's 17 hours of my life stuck in a seat on a plane and i sure as heck want those 17 hours to feel as comfortable as possible.  Last time i flew long distance, the seat belt extender didn't even work, i was cramped and claustrophobic.  When i eventually landed, i had cricks in my back and neck and that left the first few days of my travel in a slightly sour spot. So obviously the less inches i have on me the better - i'm getting there.

 

Secondly, Brazil is a big place and a hot one too.  I am used to hot and humid summer temperatures (I'm from South Africa, afterall), but Rio has soared into the upper 40's on occasion and i don't handle those high temps very well (i don't like sweat, so sue me).  So i need to be able to fight through it.  The fitter I am, the better it will be for me.

 

Quest 1: If you can't run, you can at least walk

Brazil is a big place and i will be spending a lot of time walking around the cities, checking out sites and things.  I do plan on lounging on the beaches as often as possible, but there's some walking involved I do a fair amount of walking, but not enough walking in humidity to prepare me for Brazil.  I need to walk 10k steps at least 3 days a week and the rest of the time 5k steps is ok. I have a 10k at the end of week 1 that I hope to finish in under 2 hours that i'm doing with Jay and J (jay's bestie).  They're definitely not used to those distances, but i'm sure they'll be waiting for me at the end of the course.

 

Goal: Walk 300k steps

Measurement: 300K steps = A, 275k = B, 250k = C

Reward: Tattoo

 

Quest 2: How do you get strong and fit when you don't train

So last challenge, I struggled to get to the gym.  I've decided that we're not just going to get to the gym, we're going to add any workout that last longer than 30min and has me drenched in sweat afterwards (except, swimming 500m or more counts).

 

I go back to swimming towards the end of Week 1 and i'm sooooo excited about this - i can't begin to tell you.  I should hopefully be there at least twice a week - weather dependent.  Then i also hope to get into gym 3 - 4 mornings a week, but at the moment getting there in the morning is a mission (weekends are no problem though and i prefer it cos i can spend more time there). At the gym, i hope to reach my lifting goal for the year (I've reached the bench press one) of squatting 75kg and deadlifting 75kg (I hate deadlifting).  I also want to get more boxing in, maybe i could reach a 1000 punches because i honestly don't have a goal for this one.

 

Maybe only 20 workouts in 6 weeks is a little on the non existent side, but my next quest will explain why i'm taking it easy in the first few weeks.

 

Goal: Workout at least 20 times in 6 weeks

Measurement: 20 workouts = A, 18 = B, 15 = C

Reward: Designer handbag

 

Quest 3: Eating it right this time

I loved my foray in Whole30 but I went about reintroduction the "wrong" way (for me) and most of the month of October, I didn't feel right.  So i've decdided to go back to W30 and do the reintro properly.  My attitudes have changed but there's still more work to be done. I will start my W30 on 1 November, so the day this challenge begins I will be on day 4.  I don't anticipate this one being as easy as the last one, but i am sure that i will hold strong on it.  When the time comes to reintro, I will do it the way according to the book and learn from there.  I honestly am not too gutted about giving up sugar or gluten, but i might cry about not being able to eat super salty popcorn I will live though. I'm not going to measure this one, because it's either a win or a fail - there is no other way with W30. 

 

Side Quest: Learn to use my new camera

So i have a new(ish) camera.  I bought it off my photographer friend a few months ago and i just can't seem to get good pics with it (my point and shoot is way better).  So I need to learn to use it before i fly off to Brazil.  I found a website that has tutorials for this particular camera and I am going to do one and have a mini shoot, once a week to practice what i've learnt.  I will post a pic a week here for you to judge me and hopefully give me some extra criticism too - hehehe.