Getting Ready

I decided to take today as my much needed rest day....

I didn't take one day off during the month of March and as I'm going to be doing The 17 Day Diet plan from Monday....I thought it would be a good idea to REST.

So, for lunch I ate 2 small Rye rolls ( my Friday treat ) and then 2 blocks of dark chocolate...oh I felt like just letting go a little today as I know that as from Monday its 100% or nothing...if I cant give 100% then I might as well not bother.....I'm an all or nothing person...so am feeling the pressure I'm putting on myself, but also keen to get going...

I'm so glad I have Marleen, Sarah, Wanda and a few others from group doing this with me as we will be leaning on each other for support during this time...

I plan to do a daily report on my food menu ~ with counting calories

Log in the training I've done for the day ~ calories burned

( The book recommends 17 mins of training, if fit, 2x a day )

How I'm feeling, my emotions, my struggles, what I'm enjoying about the plan, what I miss

( like my dark chocolate )

I will weigh in on Monday morning and put that in as my starting weight for this plan

I will weigh in each morning and make note with my daily entries, my gains or losses for that day, the week and then the total loss for the 17 days.

I intend to do a photo blog of what I eat on this plan, this will help keep it interesting for me and also for me to put more effort into my meals and to plan a day ahead instead of standing in front of the fridge wondering what I can eat today.

I'm going to take this weekend off from updating this blog

Will be back on Monday

I will be running with the ladies from the neighborhood on Sunday morning and plan to do a run on my own tomorrow late afternoon.

I would like to finish my week off with having run 30km for the week, am currently sitting on 18 km and have 1 class and two Kettlebell workouts under my belt so far.

End of March measurements

Here is how I did from the start of March to the End.

Start of March End of March LOSS/GAIN

Chest: 92 ( 36.2 inch) 91 ( 35.8 ) 1

Waist: 74 ( 29.1 ) 72.5 ( 28.5 ) 1.5

Neck: 32 ( 12.6 ) 31.5 ( 12.4 ) .5

Upper Arm L: 31.5 ( 12.4 ) 31 ( 12.20 ) .5

Upper Arm R: 31.5 31 .5

Thigh L: 58 ( 22.8 ) 57 ( 22.4 ) 1

Thigh R: 58 57 1

Calves L: 39.5 ( 15.6 ) 40 . 5 gain

Calves R: 39.5 40

Total of 7cm loss for the month of March

BMI = 23.07

March is the month I started weight training and Kettlebell...

Tuesday * Active Day *

I've added a photo of the book called The 17 Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno

As this is the plan a few friends and I are going to be doing in April for 17 ~Days~

Its being designed by a Dr who has been on the Dr Oz, Dr Phil and The Doctors TV shows.

The way the book was promoted really got me excited as its Clean Eating which I totally love and believe in.

I've learned that when you fuel your body with the correct foods you don't have cravings for sugar, carbs or the bad stuff.

Its the way I want to eat....Its the way I chose to eat.

Yesterday I did a upper body kettlebell workout in the morning

The afternoon I ran a Trail run in the forest for 10 km's ...( 6.2 miles )

THEN...taught a class in the evening.

Was a very active day...even got to lie in the sun for one hour!!

Burned a whopping 1 500 calories yesterday which found me down 300 grams from yesterday'S weigh in...

I might just make the 2 kg's ( 4.4lbs ) I wanted to lose for March

200 grams to go!!!!!!!!!

Review of the Month of March

March was the month I put all my effort into my healthy living plan ~ Jan I was still on holiday and Feb was the warm up preparation for March.

I had not weighed in since October when I began the Clean Eating program on a more serious level and then went on holiday to South Africa for 9 weeks....

When I began the March challenge with my online group, that was the first time I'd climbed on the scale in months.....and was very happy to see I had managed to maintain my weight with a little gain...nothing drastic like I would have had in the past, as I watched what I ate, my portion sizes and I kept running daily.....its a lifestyle for me now, no longer a diet.

The end of Feb I weighed in at 64.7 kg's ( 142.6 lbs )

Today, 4 weeks since I began the challenge I now weigh 63.2 kg's ( 139.3 lbs )

Thats a loss of 1.5 kg's ( 3,3 lbs )

This means I'm now 1.2 kg's ( 2.6lbs ) away from my personal goal weight...I have been at this weight before, and with summer coming up, this is the weight I want to be again as I feel the most comfortable there.

In 8 days time I will begin The 17 Days Diet with a few other members of my online group....am sure to lose the weight and reach my goal for summer with this plan.

I will do a daily blog on my journey while on this plan as I have had lots of requests from readers asking me to write more about this plan...and also to document how I do on the plan.

I start the plan on the 6th April....as I mentioned in yesterdays entry, I'm busy preparing myself for this plan so when I begin its going to be a lot easier to do. I do think anyone who still eats lots of carb and fruit will struggle to do this plan....but as I have been preparing for the plan by cutting out on bread, pasta, rice, banana's and sugar, its going to be a little easier, but far from easy as I still love my muesli for breakfast, a block of dark chocolate, crackerbread, weekend bread roll....I keep telling myself that its ONLY for 17 days....if I could stick to healthy eating for over two and a half years I can do 17 days.

Knowing I have my readers support and interest in this plan will make me stick to it as I hate disappointing others...

With March behind me and with a loss....I look forward to April..

Review of my week

Yesterday I wrote that I was feeling tired.....I was tired from lack of sleep...not from training.

I have been training at a moderate level lately....not entering a marathon or training for a fitness competition, so training has been at a pace I love, a pace I feel comfortable doing...

But sleep...that has not been good to me lately.

I go through these patches where I sleep well and then times where I wake around 3am and struggle to fall asleep again, then I do only to wake up at 6am when hubby goes to work. It seems these interrupted sleeps is what gets me feeling tired, especially after a few nights of not sleeping through.

Last night I had a GREAT sleep....so woke up today feeling refreshed and ready for my run...

As our clocks went forward by one hour we ran at 9am, which is now our 10am.

It's a lot colder at 9am still ( well now 10am )

Today we took the route up to the castle instead of the forest route as I need a break from all the hills...this route has hills but a lot more flats.

The only problem we had was that one of the girls ( the youngest ) suffers from asthma this time of the year....and as I'm the *coach* during these runs I feel its up to me to stay back with her and monitor her during the run, encourage her to walk when her heart rate is too high and then to slowly pick it up when it drops and on flats....

This means I slow my own workout down, but am okay with that...its called TEAM work.

I ran 10.13km

1.18 mins ( due to some walking in between )

Burned 894 calories

18% fat

123 - 145 HR

Average pace 7.49

Average speed 7.7

Max speed 12.5

Review on my weeks training

Burned 5131 calories

11 Workouts

Taught 2 aerobic classes

Did 5 Kettlebell workouts

4 Runs = 33 km ( 20 miles )

I'm really enjoying my training and LOVING the kettlebell workouts.

I think they one of the greatest workouts I've done and as a qualified professional trainer who is able to teach many different methods, this one gels with me...

My eating plan is still CLEAN..

Have dropped nearly all carbs off my list as I get myself ready to do The 17 Day Diet with my online group from next month.

If I slowly start limiting carbs that one is not allowed to eat for the first 17 days of this eating plan I will not find it too tough...

To just give up carbs is really hard..

So slowly am adding things like, on waking drinking a glass of warm water with half freshly squeezed lemon.

No fruit after 2pm

Drinking 3 cups of Green Tea a day...

The hardest is going when I have to give up my muesli and replace with eggs for breakfast...for those 17 days...

Thankfully yogurt is allowed...

I'm satisfied with my week...

Tomorrow is my official weigh in day..

I stayed off the scale both Saturday and Sunday....