This last week I have stepped things up a little. Following my discussion with Luke at the end of week 10 this week has been the start of a new 6 week training phase. At the same time, I have cut out all fruit and increased my protein intake to 100g per day – just for the next 42 days.
This week has been tough. I’m sick of eating chicken and rather non-plussed by protein shakes. But worse than that have been the mental challenges.
I’ve been struggling a little over the last couple of days. Old mindsets have been creeping in, and the goblins in my soul have been lobbing hand grenades to knock me off course.
For some weeks now I have been avoiding the news; fed up with the media hysteria about everything and anything, I decided to stop looking. However, earlier this week I woke before my alarm went off and lay in bed idly scrolling through the Apple headlines. The third one down jumped out at me “How to transform your body in 4 weeks”.
My split second reaction was ‘oh god I”m doing it wrong I should be able to do this in 4 weeks’.
Kayla Itsines was gracing my phone with her presence and looking exceptional. I’d bought Kayla Itsines’ app in January and, if you are young and fit it is great; if you are not so young and unfit, like me, you’ll do yourself a mischief (l gave myself housemaid’s knee (I know, I thought it was a Victorian thing too)).
My rational self yelled ‘shut up’. I’ve been training hard for 10 and a half weeks and my results were steady. My ‘weight’ loss as shown on the scales wasn’t as much as I would like, but I know that muscle weighs heavier than fat and I”m definitely getting smaller. I told myself that the scales simply don’t show the whole picture. I know this, I’m an intelligent, educated woman. So why don’t I believe it?
It was my birthday this week and despite the enhanced training and eating regime Luke said “have a day off and eat whatever you want”. My thoughts ran amok while visions of sugar plums danced in my head…crisps, lots of crisps (Tyrells’ salt and vinegar obvs), home made chips, chocolate brownies, toast…ooohhhhh…toast, charbonnel et walker plain dark chocolate truffles, a big organic red wine…the list went on.
Then I realised that I didn’t actually want any of it. I didn’t want that awful horrible feeling that you get after eating stuff that you shouldn’t. I didn’t want to set back my progress and to have to work even harder to undo the damage. For the first time I felt free. Free to choose what I eat. It was a game changing moment.
My birthday dinner was steak, salad and jersey royal potatoes (with butter) followed by strawberries dipped in 90% chocolate and absolutely no wine. The potatoes and strawberries were off plan but they weren’t the end of the world. My mum made a gluten free, vegan chocolate and caramel brownie as a birthday cake for everyone else and I had literally 2 teaspoons of it. It was divine but I didn’t want any more..
The next day I had ‘gained’ 2 lbs in ‘weight’. I felt a bit flattened. I trained with Luke that day and he said that I couldn’t have put on 2lbs overnight. He thought that I’d probably eaten more salt than usual and it was simply water retention. With hindsight I had possibly mis-judged and mis-recorded my water intake that day which didn’t help.
The next hand grenade that was lobbed at me was a chance encounter with an acquaintance. She had lost weight and I told her so. She said that she’d been doing the blood sugar diet and was having great results on 800 calories a day. She said that I was “looking well” (everyone knows that’s a jellyfish) and I told her that I was training with a fitness coach. She asked if I was counting calories too. I said no, that I was just eating sensibly. the look on her face conveyed her thoughts which were – ‘well, unlike me, you aren’t going to lose weight without counting calories’..
These little things piled up in my head and I spent the rest of the day doubting myself. I was training like a maniac, I wasn’t losing ‘weight’ because the scales weren’t shifting, I hadn’t transformed my body to look like Kayla Itsines’ in 4 weeks and I wasn’t counting calories. I felt like I was failing.
I’d had a horrible day, work was hectic and I got home 2 hours late. I still had to sort dinner and squeeze in some cardio, but I pulled up on the drive I saw my mum in the garden next-door and she said “goodness you are really changing shape, you are half the size that you were”. Bless my mum. She is a legend.
By the time I got on to the exercise bike I was seriously fed up and questioning my results. An hour later and dripping with sweat I felt a whole lot better. Of course I know that you can’t go from fat to fit in 4 weeks, that I don’t want to worship at the altar of calorie counting and that I’m doing the right thing for my long term health. I’m decreasing my risk of heart disease and cancer and I’m feeling better that I have in decades.
The next day I told Luke about my doubts. He said that if I wanted to do an 800 calorie diet I could, and we would certainly get the scales to move, but in 6 months I would be heavier and more unhappy than ever. However, if I did drop my calories then I definitely wouldn’t be able to lift heavy weights.
This morning I took my end of week 11 progress photos. My ‘weight’ was exactly the same as it had been when I took the progress photos last week at the end of week 10. From the first photo to the second I have “lost” 8lbs. Everyone says that it looks more.
After taking my progress photos I thought – well if I’m the same ‘weight’ as I was last week (10st 12lbs) I wonder whether the photos have changed. I used body tracker to do the 7 day side by side comparison and it looked like this:
Despite “weighing’ exactly the same in both photos, after 7 more days of training (multiple sets of 50 squats/50 squats to overhead press) and an increased protein intake there was clearly a change in my body shape. My lumpy arse was smoother and I’d lost fat from my back.
I reflected upon what I would rather have – a shift in the scales or a less lumpy arse. It’s a no-brainer.
This week I have answered the question of whether I am doing the right thing – I most certainly am. Luke knows what he is doing and I trust him. I have also realised two fundamental truths:
- The scales lie, and
- Mums don’t.