Progress – November 2018

Hey loves! Welcome to my first monthly progress post.

These are just pretty much for my control. Trust me, I did not want to share any of these photos, but at the same time I wanted to put my journey out there because if it will help anyone out there to live a healthier life, then to me, it’s worth it.

As I shared on my first ‘fitness post’, I’ve lost 20 pounds since January 2018. I don’t have ‘progress photos’ since the beginning because when I first started, I thought I was only going to do this for my wedding and that was going to be it. I didn’t really believe I could do it and you cannot imagine how proud I am of myself because I pushed myself to make little changes and decisions every day that have taken me closer to my goals.

At the end of October I decided I was going to start taking photos and keep track of my progress every month. I will continue to share these until I reach my goals, which I estimate will be by Summer 2019, but who knows? Maybe it will be sooner (or later). I’m still learning about food and workouts while figuring out what works for my body and what doesn’t.

My ultimate goal is to find a good and comfortable maintenance calorie intake and eat in a more intuitive way. Right now I keep track of everything thanks to My Fitness Pal but it’s a little bit annoying to log in every single thing I eat, but I’ve learned how and how much to eat because of it.If you have no idea about macros and quantities I highly recommend using My Fitness Pal for a while.

I’ve been reading a lot about intuitive eating and I think that’s where I want to go next and learn how to master. I encourage you to learn about it, but I also recommend keeping track of your food for a little while before you do this, so you can learn about quantities and macros before you dive in into this whole intuitive eating method.

Why do I want to move to intuitive eating? Well, I’m planning a trip around the world for 2 years for Summer 2020 and I won’t be able to keep track of everything I eat because I won’t be cooking all my meals. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it will be to stay in shape during that time, so that’s why I want to get to know my body very good before we leave. Hopefully I’ll start eating intuitively by next Summer and that will give me a year to see what works and what doesn’t.

Changes I made this month: (compared to October 2018)

• I made sure to drink 3 liters of water daily.
• I made sure to go to the gym 6 times a week.
• I included cardio after my weights. 45 mins on the treadmill with 15 inclination and 3.5 speed 4 days a week OR 25 mins high intensity intervals the other 2 days (which I hate and avoid to death, but I’m trying to get better).
• I started paying attention to my sodium intake. I try to keep it under 2000 mg per day. Before I started keeping track of this, I’m pretty sure I was consuming over 5000 mg. I want to bring it even lower in the upcoming months because the changes I’ve seen in my body and cellulite have been pretty amazing!
• I increased my daily calories from 1600 to 1750. Which sounds crazy if my goal is still to loose fat right? But I’ve also learned that the less fat you have, the more calories you burn during the day. I was intrigued about this when my girl Lesley from @lesleylifestylehabits talked about it on her Insta and it inspired me to learn more about it. After doing much research I decided to give a try and increased my calories… and guess what? I’m still losing weight!!

Things I failed at:

• Too many cheat meals that included some alcohol. I never got drunk but I know alcohol can set you back and I kind of failed here. I think I drank once/twice a week and I was way off with my cheat meals. I did 2 per week pretty much.
• I got sick. This wasn’t exactly my fault but it’s something that went wrong this month. I spent 4 days in bed pretty much and I didn’t work out. I did eat healthy those days though. Then, when I started to go back to the gym I still wasn’t feeling my best so my workouts weren’t as intense as they usually are. It took me a few days to finally feel good and go back to my normal routine.
• I didn’t move during the day. This is so bad and I have zero excuses. It’s been really cold and I was just being lazy. I think I only did my 10,000 steps 3 times during the whole month! I used my phone to count them and I don’t always have it on me, but still most days were like 3000 steps in total. Still super super low. Moving during the day does make a huge difference.

Macros and calories: 

Daily calories: 1750

45% carbs

30% protein

25% fat

Weight, fat percentage and measurements: (I’m 5 ft 4 for reference)

November 1st:

125.8 lbs – 19.7% body fat

Chest: 84 cm – Waist: 65 cm – Hips: 93 cm

November 30th:

123.7 lbs – 19.3% body fat

Chest: 83 cm – Waist: 64 cm – Hips: 91 cm

Photos:

November 1st (left) – November 30th (right)

As you can see these photos are not perfect, and trust me it was VERY HARD to post these for everyone to see. I don’t really see the difference between the before and after LOL, but I did loose some weight and measurements. My guess is that I’ll be able to see a difference when I compare photos that are 3 months apart.

November wasn’t great in terms of progress, but I still wanted to post this to show you how important it is to be on top of what you eat and drink. It doesn’t matter how hard you work out. You will not see major changes unless you eat good food! And I do, but then I could see that drinking and eating cheat meals twice a week is more for when you are in maintenance and I’m not there yet. It was a little bit of a set back compared to October. Last month I lost 2% body fat, a ton of measurements and 4 pounds. Sadly I only have the ‘after’ photos 🙁  I can’t recommend you enough to take photos every couple of weeks or at least once a month.

My biggest struggle are my arms and my hips. Reading a lot about hormones and how our bodies work, I’m pretty sure I have an excess of estrogen because of my birth control. You can tell a lot about how certain hormones are working based on where you accumulate fat.

Currently, I have the Nexplanon implant, but I’m going to take it out at the beginning of next year. This is a personal decision me and G made together this past week. Not at all because of the physical part, but because the Nexplanon releases hormones into my system, and I just don’t want that anymore. I want to be healthier in every aspect and there are other birth control methods that don’t involve the use of hormones.

My current workout routine (more or less because it varies by week, but I did go to the gym 6 times a week in November):

Mondays: Hamstrings & glutes + 25 minute intense cardio

Tuesdays: Triceps & shoulders + 45 minute cardio (hard but not super intense like the 25 min session)

Wednesdays: Back & abs + 25 min intense cardio

Thursdays: Quadriceps & hips + 25 min intense cardio

Fridays: Off (but it varies. I usually take off a weekday. I still go on the weekends, especially during winter because there’s not much to do LOL)

Saturdays: Biceps & abs + 45 minute cardio

Sundays: I repeat whatever I did on Monday or Tuesday. That’s why my workout days change every week.

Note: My favorite workouts right now are triceps and shoulders. I kind of like hamstrings a little bit too. The other ones are OK. Don’t love them but gotta do them!

I don’t spend more than 90 minutes at the gym. I usually do 5 series of each exercise and 12 reps. I love the 45 min cardio session and I’m getting kind of comfortable doing it and that’s when I knew I had to change it a little bit. Never let your body get used to anything! I know it sucks, but really, if it’s too easy then you won’t burn the same amount of fat. Make sure to always challenge yourself and try to get better and stronger.

Next month changes and challenges:

I will be in Florida for vacation from December 8th to the 28th. It will be a challenge, but I will still try to be good with food. I plan to work out every morning and I’m super happy because I’ll get to play tennis. I will still post my progress for December no matter how it looks like.

Here are the things I will add to my routine in December:

• Make sure I do my 10,000 steps every day. I got a new Fitbit during black Friday.
• I will do my cardio session early in the morning before breakfast. Not high intensity and no more than 45 mins. I’ve been reading about this and want to see if it works for me and how I feel.
• Realistically, I’ll go to the gym 5 times a week instead of 6, but it’s fine because I know I’ll play tennis at least 3 times a week on top of my gym workout.

Looking forward to December and to challenge myself to be good even during vacation. I’m determined to make this a lifestyle and not just a ‘diet’ or a ‘phase’. That’s why I’ve been moving slow, but I’m ok with it because I know this time the changes I’m seeing will be permanent.

I started this journey little by little. I wasn’t overweight or anything, but I was not eating healthy and not working out regularly and I know I was going to pay for that in the long run. I’ve lost 20 pounds since January 2018 and decreased my body fat percentage by 7%.

You can read more about how and why I started here.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope this post inspires you to live a healthier live and start making little changes here and there in order to be healthier. Let me know your thoughts in the comment below.

XO,

 

PS: Check out my Amazon Storefront to see some of the products I love, like my pre workout whey protein, digital scale that measures EVERYTHING, waffle & pancake mix, waffle maker for yummy breakfast recipes and more!

In January I will start posting daily posts of everything I eat in one day, so you guys can copy some of my recipes and get creative with your food so you don’t get bored.