Awesomefication - building strength takes guts!

This week was a short one for me.  I missed Monday and Tuesday's sessions because I was away for a long weekend, so only got to Thursday and Friday's sessions.  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to do exercise when I was away, the weather was a bit nuts so I was restricted to indoors and the hotel rooms were too small or the floors way to creaky for me to do any jumping around.  Instead, we walked miles and miles and miles.  My calves were killing me by the time we got back and are still feeling a bit tight. My ' official photographer '/motivational coach/trainer/friend, Sheena,  was back on top form today, and assisted me in getting the photographs for me to  put together my little montage!   However, what was meant to be me standing posing to get a few pics done turned into Mistress Walker cracking the whip and had me doing a mini workout, I had only finished this mornings session a few minutes prior.  God forbid she ever g...

No picture of my pretty face this week I'm afraid, my official photographer wasn't available and I kinda forgot! So here is a picture of my motivational guru, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, from the film Full Metal Jacket, the man is a genius when it comes to motivational speeches . So it's Friday, end of week 3 of Fight Camp and I am at the half way mark.  I cannot believe how quickly the weeks are going by, time really does fly when you are having fun. This week has been hard, but fun!  I think my body is starting to rebel against me and decided it's had enough of the early mornings.  I think part of my  struggle this week has been lack of sleep.  I've been trying to get to bed earlier, but most of the time I am lying there awake for an hour before I drift off. My Burpees have been pitiful, more like mushy pees than power pees!  Note to self: must try harder and give it more gusto!  My legs just didn't want to play the game th...

To weigh or not to weigh? That's the question I am asking myself these days. I'm talking food by the way, not my body weight (we'll get to that later in the week!) For a while now I have been in the habit of reading the nutritional values on packets for the calorie and fat content. I've become aware that I've turned into one of those women you see in the supermarket who reads the packet of every item she picks up, one of those women I used to spot, feel sorry for them then call them a saddo for being so consumed with what they were eating. How times have changed, I'm like a walking-talking calorie content reference book nowadays. In recent weeks, following the nutritional information provided by the Fight Camp trainers, I have stopped counting calories and weighing out my portions. It's a surprisingly hard habit to break. It goes against everything I have programmed myself to do. I now go with how much noise my stomach is making and stop eating once it shuts...

I'm not talking about the perfume, I'm talking about the obsession I have with my lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise. I'm not ashamed to admit that it has become an absolute obsession , and one of necessity. If someone asks me then i'll quite happily talk about my exercise regime, what's for dinner, food shopping, cooking, magazine articles, anything until I notice them getting bored and I get the hint that i've went too far yet again! All of the changes I have made and live by these days have consumed me, and I can't see any way around it. If you are reading this and you know me, no doubt you have been subjected to my incessant chatter on the topic at some point. I'm not apologising, just want to say thanks for listening and putting up with me! If you make a major change in your life, commit to it, set yourself a goal, find that you love it and it makes you feel great, how can you avoid becoming obsessed with it. If it becomes something that ...

Woo Hoo!! that's another week ticked off and it has been a sweaty one! Very, very sweaty (";) Intensity was amped up a gain each day this week. Monday was a bit of a rude awakening after having the weekend off, I think my body goes into s ome kind of defense mode and forgets just how grue lling the last workout was and shrouds the memories in a nice rosey glow. Monday morning I whacked my legs off a bench and now have a nice big lump and bruise on my left shin. I fell on my ass on Thursday morning during some jumping! Not painful thankfully, was straight back up again and into the exercise, although I did stumble a little again straight after. (I've come to the conclusion that I am a wee bit clumsy. I think Leona had me in mind when she belted out "I keep bleeding, I keep, keep, bleeding...") My butt cheeks, thighs and arms are killin' me from the torturous pushup holds and squat holds from this mornings session, ouchy!! I struggled a bit with the die...

Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! I think it's no secret from everything I've posted so far that I love my exercise these d ays. If it was classed as a drug, I'd be an addict! Friends and colleagues will agree that I am completely obsessed with it. A very different story from this time last year, actually, ever! I used to do the occasional Body Pump class, go out for a r ide on the mountain bike every now and then, force myself to go to the gym or go for the odd walk on a Sunday morning, but that was about the extent of it, and that was only when i was on a fitness kick. That would last a couple of weeks and then I would go back to my slovenly ways. Sara 7 months ago! (";) hehe But something gradually changed. I started trying various types of exercise, from working with my trainer, to trying an assortment of classes. From doing this I found things that I enjoy and challenge me (or causes me pain! Apparently, I'm a bit of a masochist!) In finding something that ...

What is it that drives you to keep going? How do you do it? Again, these are questions that people have been asking me. Believe me, there's been more than a few occasions when I have felt like jacking in my efforts to get fit and lose weight. There are days when I can't b e bothered and quite frankly, I cannot face going to the gym or to a class. Days when I don't want to get out of bed half an hour early so that I can get a quick workout in before I go to work. There are nights when I don't want to have to think about what I'm going to be eating the next day. Days when I've got PMS or work is getting to me and all I want to do is go home and bury my face in a big dirty bowl of pasta. But I make myself do what I need to. I have found that if I didn't shift my lazy butt and get on with it, I regretted it afterwards, not a good feeling! I usually have a quick word with myself or a little pep talk, reminding me how good I will feel once I actually get...

Week one of Fight Camp is done and I actually survived! Yee-Haa! This is me yesterday after the workout session... a big sweaty mess, but on an absolute high. I don't think I look too bad given that I had been up since 5am and just done a monster session. The first thing that went through my head after the session, well second, first being 'I need a shower, I'm stinkin', was that I can't wait until next week! I can't believe the difference exercising first thing in the morning has made to my appetite. It's like my metabolism has gone into overdrive. I've been following the nutritional info the trainers have provided as part of doing Fight Camp, which centres around ensuring your body has everything it needs in order to cope with the exercise programme they are putting us through. Lots of meat and veg mainly. I'm eating more now than I was before I started Fight Camp, with me eating around 5-6 meals throughout the day. Y esterday was the first...

There are two recurrent question that people are constantly asking me once they notice the difference in my waistline. In fact, these days most people only want to talk about my health and fitness exploits! 1. What are you eating? and 2. What exercise are you doing? But the eating question seems to be the one that interests people most. Well, guess what ... there is no big secret to eating in order to lose weight! The funny thing is that I'm eating what most folk eat and most of what I have to say on the topic, you will have heard before. It's about the choices you make about food and the way you cook it. If you want to lose weight of course there needs to be sacrifices and you need to be sensible about it. BAD HABITS My weakness is crisps, I love them in any shape or form and before I overhauled my diet I would be consuming 1-2 packs a day. Walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli !!! I could wolf a party bag of those bad boys in one sitting! So at the start of this venture I erad...

As I write this I am shovelling my big ass salad into my gob at a great rate of knots that would rival a homeless man who hasn't seen food in a month. The salad was made with the intention of it being two servings, not gonna happen, it's all gone and it's only 15 minutes into my lunch break. My stomach was actually growling at me earlier, I simply couldn't get the red grapes I was eating down my throat fast enough (" Stop teasing me Goddammit, keep them coming! ") I'm pretty sure the sun worshippers down the hill in George Square could hear it's demands. 2 days into Fight Camp and despite wreaking havoc on my metabolism, I am loving it! My thighs and shoulders are feeling a bit dead after this morning's session, but i couldn't be happier! It's gut busting, cellulite quaking (if its not quaking yet, it bloody well should be), intense, hard work (they weren't joking when they said 'willpower required'), but it's also cracking ...

Looking for my next challenge I stumbled across a flyer in The Griphouse where I go to my Muay Thai fitness class. ' Fight Camp ' it said, 'Willpower Required' it said. Well that had me intrigued. When I got home I booted up my laptop and went to their website. What I saw made my jaw drop and I instantly wanted to sign up. And sign up is what I did! Fight Camp is an intense 6 week fitness programme where I will be working out 4 mornings a week, 7am to 8am, consisting of 2 boxing/muay thai sessions and 2 strength and conditioning sessions. Yesterday I went along to get weighed, measured, pictures taken and pay my fees. I weighed in at 85.4 kg/13 st 4lbs. Not entirly sure what my bodyfat % is at the moment, but i'll find out and post it on here. Met the 4 trainers who all seem really nice and easy going. I start tomorrow morning at 7am. I'm a bag of nerves, a little bit scared but also very excited to get started! Thankfully, the first monring session f...