Hi guys!
Hope you are all well :)
So it’s D day!! Here I am at the end of
Cycle 1 on my 90 Day SSS Plan - the weeks just flew by! For those who want
to find out more about my meals and workouts during Cycle 1 you can read
my Cycle 1 Week 1 blogpost here :)
As some of you will know, I was due to
finish my plan on Tuesday however I didn't like the idea of ending the cycle
midweek so I decided I would carry on until the end of the week and submit my
results on Sunday. The only thing now is I have to wait another 3-5 days for my Cycle 2 plan to be sent through to me therefore I'm just going to carry on with this plan
until I receive it - no biggie.
Anyway, I guess you are all dying to
hear how I got on! So here we go..
My Results
So the night before starting the plan I
submitted all my body measurements including my waist, hips, arms and legs as well as my
starting weight and front, back and side photos of myself. After getting back
from hols in May I had really let my diet slip and was craving structure. I was
eating way too many 'bad' carbs and I was severely bloated on a day to day
basis. So on the left is me severely bloated the day before cycle 1- the right is me today!
In total I have lost 4.0kg / 8 lbs and 8 inches from my entire body in just over 4 weeks!! I have lost 3 inches from my
waist, 2.5 inches from my hips, 0.5 inches from my chest (my poor boob’s lol)
0.5 inches from each of my arms and 0.5 inches from each of my legs.
I cannot tell you how happy I am!!! As
you know, before starting this plan I was already a religious gym-goer and
clean eater - a typical gym bunny who loved lifting heavy and counting
macros. However, at weekends I used to let my hard work go to waste by
rewarding my hard work with pizza and booze. What I was really lacking was
discipline at weekends and after returning from holidays I
was really lacking in self-motivation. At this time of year as well during the
summer months I find it so hard to stay on track as there always seems to be
something on and fear of missing out means I have no willpower!
There is so much I enjoyed about this
cycle! The best thing I think was having the structured meal plan with all my
amounts planned out for me. I really enjoyed learning about the
macro-nutrient timing too. I have always just tried to stick to
my daily macros and not worried about when I ate my carbs as long as I didn’t
go over my daily allowance - and that's ok too! But it's also great to learn how your body will benefit from eating the right foods at the right time.
Here's a typical day:
Meal 1:
Meal 2:
Meal 3:
Snack 1:
Snack 2:
The Pros & Cons
This cycle has been a whole new lesson on how to fuel my body the right
way and I have really felt the benefits. I have had no bloating at all! I
suffered really badly with the bloat before
starting this plan. So much so that I was contemplating being tested for food
intolerance's as I was just so sick of feeling so uncomfortable. It's all about fat burning and boosting the metabolism in this cycle so carbs were only allowed once a day after a workout. The reduced carb really worked for me
Although I did look forward to my
post workout recarb meal which was nearly always the Build-up Bagel. If
you were following me on snapchat you'll already know that had this nearly
everyday :) I loved the BUB so much that the thought of having one became my motivation to workout lol. I tried and tested as many of the meals on
the plan as I could but towards the end I just stuck to the same meals that I
enjoyed and were easy to prep. These included the spicy lean turkey mince
(which I had twice a day for the last 2 weeks!) and the chicken stir-fry. For
snacks I stuck to the nuts, fruit and protein shakes. The food swap tool was
great. This is a feature that is available to members on the website which
allows you swap out a certain ingredient in a recipe for something else
although I didn’t wander too much from the recipes. For example the stir-fry in
my plan was meant to be made with prawns but I swapped them for chicken
instead. I also wasn't mad about any of the breakfast options in the beginning
and didn’t like re-heating eggs at work. My staple breakfast pre-plan had
always been porridge. I didn’t like the reduced carb oatmeal so I started
making the same meals I was having for lunch for my breakfast too. I would
never have thought that I'd be able to eat things like mince and broccoli first
thing in the morning but it really is all in the mind! Don't get me wrong,
there were some mornings when all I wanted were a few bacon rashers and poached
eggs on brown toast but I actually really enjoy having my lean meats and
veggies in the morning now.
I did obviously have the dreaded sugar
cravings as well and I really did miss having a weekly cheat meal. I think this
is partly why I went slightly off track at the weekends during this cycle. To
curb the cravings I would have orange dilute in my water or occasionally, I
would have a coke zero or monster energy zero sugar drink and it was nice to
drink something other than water or protein powder. I also asked my support
hero (a body coach professional who is assigned to you at the beginning of the
plan who you can contact with questions etc.) if it was ok to have a protein
bar as a treat and an alternative snack. She was very adamant that I stick to
my assigned snacks as protein bars were not ideal however she did offer an alternative
of x2 quest bars or x2 grenade protein bars twice a week. I didn't end up
having these but I have ordered them for cycle 2.
The workouts were the easy part for me.
I used a mixture of the gym cardio machines and Joes at home HIIT workouts
throughout this cycle. The best thing was the fact that I could be in and out
of the gym in 30 minutes or better yet, I didn’t have to leave the house at all
and still fit in a good HIIT workout. I'm so used to being in the gym for at
least an hour and a half each evening lifting weights and doing cardio. I work
full time 10 hours a day so I rarely get time in my day to do anything else but
work, workout, prep meals, eat, wash, sleep and repeat. I don't even get time
for telly most nights. So the extra time in the evenings was a major plus for
me. However, I did miss lifting weights and feared that I was going to
lose a lot of my muscle mass by not lifting over the last 4 weeks. So in that
respect, I am really looking forward to getting back to my weight training in
cycle 2.
The Honest Truth
I'm not making excuses but it's so hard
to fight back the urge especially when you have been so good all week and the
temptation is staring you in the face. There was a couple of occasions on days
out where I did booze a little and on one day out I had a McDonalds on the way
home in the car. I beat myself up about it so bad. The guilt was eating me up.
I usually wouldn't let something like that bother me too much as I'm a big
advocator of balance and happiness. It was the fact that I had promised myself
to be 100% dedicated to this plan and I felt like a failure. But after a
chat with some of my followers and a little self-pep talk I snapped out of it
and got straight back on it the next day. One minor bump in the road was not
going to stop me from reaching my end goal.
It's What's on the Inside that Counts
In terms of how I feel, I definitely
feel leaner and my results show that! Although I don't feel like my progress
pictures have changed that much and to be honest it is a little
dis-heartening. I just have to keep telling myself that it's only been 4 weeks
and the numbers don't lie! But I am hoping to see an even bigger difference in
cycle 2. My energy levels are through the roof and I am accomplishing so much
in a day. Although I may have to adjust my time management and find time to
just relax as I’ve just been go go go all the time. I do enjoy it but I don't
want to compromise sleep because as we all know sleep is so important as it
effects everything. Talking of sleep, I have also been sleeping so well! My
skin has seen the benefits of this and has improved so much. Most importantly
though, I feel on top of the world. I have been just a big bubble of happiness
and feeling completely blessed with everything I have in my life. I don’t know
if this has anything to do with low carbs and protein shakes lol but I feel so
happy I could burst!!
And that's it guys, I really hope you
are all enjoying following my journey. I can’t wait to see what cycle 2 has to
offer and I am so glad I have signed up to do this plan. I'm going into this
next cycle more motivated than ever!! As I have just submitted my results
today, I will be expecting Cycle 2 to come through in the next 3-5 days. So
once that comes I’ll be sure to fill you all in on what’s new and what to
expect for the next 4 weeks of my journey. But tonight, to celebrate the end of
Cycle 1, I'm going to go wild and go to the cinema lol - I have been craving a
cinema date since beginning this plan so I can't tell you how
excited I am!! :)
Anyway, I'll leave it there guys. Hope you
all had a fabulous weekend!
Any questions please do give me a shout - I'd be only too happy to help.
Big Love
Aileen X
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