Ow God, Here Goes!

Greetings from a chubby, but “jolly”, 25 year old cheese-a-holic! This is officially Week 1 of “Skinny Me”, (for the eighth time this year). This time is different, however. I have signed up, and may or may not have been drunk at the time on Bank Holiday weekend, to be personally trained for a 6 week programme, by a friend of mine, Ella Summers, at The Unit, Bude, Cornwall (https://www.facebook.com/The-UNIT-389273687942699/?fref=ts).

Now, I’m generally an active person, I like to force myself to exercise, I love being outdoors, I’m always the friend that wants to meet up and go for a run or walk the dogs instead of getting cake and coffee, but I have never done anything like this! I’m a typical Instagram and Pinterest user whereby I follow and pin all these amazing fitness gurus and profiles conning myself into believing I will now become one myself, copy them religiously and morph into a fitness inspiration. Have I stuck to one of their fitness plans for more than a week? Well yes, but did I do that whilst eating healthily and restricting my goodies intake, hell no. Result = not a lot. 

So, my thinking, albeit slightly hazey at the time, makes sense; I will commit myself to 6 weeks of a wake-up call - 3 tailored workouts a week with Ella where I’ll not only be watched but pushed, an eating plan (I don’t want to call it a Diet Plan - ugh bore) that will force me to actually think about what I’m shoving in my mouth and I’ll be writing about it to keep me accountable. This new blog will not simply focus on how wonderful and fabulous I feel at the end of the programme and how much of a new vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, sober individual I will become though (there’s no way I’ll be giving up meat, cheese, bread or Gin), I want to concentrate on the actuality of losing weight, exercising and adjusting your lifestyle. I will talk about the emotions I go through, the cba moments (of which I’m sure there will be many) and the slip-ups. From an outside perspective it seems that people just “get skinny” all of a sudden but that’s just not the case. It’s a long and sweaty journey, they’ve really had to work for it and sacrifice a lot of their usual comforts to hit their goals, not everyone can do it. Let’s see if I can! 

What is my goal/plan?

I’ve never been an avid weigher, I don’t trust them, women fluctuate anyway and what’s the point? You don’t have a flashing light for everyone to see how teddy you are. I tend to go more on how I feel when I put on an outfit; that’s an actual, real-life measurement I believe. But the for the purposes of the programme, it will hopefully be good to see the difference over a long period of time.

My end goal is to be 9 and a half stone but I’m obviously not looking to achieve that in just 6 weeks - that’s 22 pounds! I also feel it’s perhaps not healthy to look at such a long-distant goal because you might not see the achievement in the little losses (wins), so I will be focusing on step by step losses in weight and measurements but also my Mirror Milestones. These are the moments you look in the mirror in your undies and a smile can’t help but creep up on your face for whatever reason that may be, whether it’s less back fat, a more pronounced bum shelf, whatever it is for you.

What am I eating?

Before:

Anything going really! I always have a healthy breakfast but I generally eat what I fancy throughout the day, not excessively but if I want a pasty I’ll have one, if I want to go out to lunch and have cheesy chips I will. You get my drift. I heart takeaways and eating out so, on average, I will have either 2/3 times a week (including lunches out), any excuse to combine seeing a friend with yummy food and I’m in. 

Ella wanted me to tell her where I thought my downfalls were food-wise, this is what I came up with:

• Cheese
• Portion size
• Eating out
• Picking throughout the day
• Alcohol
• Goodies after dinner

From now on:

Although she’s sent me tons of recipes to try, I haven’t got a strict food schedule which I really appreciate. Instead I’ve got 6 rules I need to abide to see the best results. Meals will come down to common sense.

1. Stick to 3 meals a day, maximum 2 healthy snacks
2. 2 treats per week - a treat is ONE alcoholic drink, a pasty, having lunch out e.t.c. I’ll be using my initiative on this one
3. Make sure I have my 5 a day: 3 veg and 2 fruit
4. Have cheese only twice a week - :( 
5. Go for a run once a week (only a couple of miles or so)
6. No added sugar in my coffee - this should be easy

What exercise do I do?

Before:

I haven’t done anything on purpose since before I left for America

From now on:

I’m doing 3, one hour sessions with Ella a week and then my 1 run a week

I'm generally really excited, I can't wait to get started, feel healthier, tighten up and embrace the ache. I know it's going to hurt, and I know it'll be a challenge to fit in 3 sessions whilst juggling the 2 jobs, writing and visits to Bristol but I'm keen for it! Let's be better Ford!

I'll be writing weekly on how the sessions go, how I feel before and after, how the eating is going, anything and everything that is relevant to the changes I am seeing throughout the programme. See you next week, wish me luck!